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The Lola Message Board Dreamland Awareness Project

posted 17 years ago by salieri125
9 replies | jump to latest

If there was a message board for Lola, what would we discuss? Would we talk about comparisons with Douglas Sirk's work? Would we talk about the similarities/differences between Lola and The Blue Angel? Would we talk about the allegorical elements? Would we talk about the beauty of the color cinematography (possibly vs. the beautiful b/w cinematography in Veronika Voss)? Would we talk about the subtleties of Armin Mueller-Stahl's performance? (We could say the same about Barbara Sukowa's, but I personally have more interest in his.) Would we talk about how Mario Adorf as Schukert sort of looks like George Clooney in Syriana? (We probably wouldn't have much to say about that.)

There are so many things that we could talk about if only we could talk about things.

"We must not remind them that giants walk the earth."

[–] salieri125 17 years ago

I, for one, agree with the above poster. He seems like a nice fellow, highly intelligent, and I'll bet his breath smells just like licorice.

"Who's been carving their initials in the tomatoes?"

[–] dirringblob 17 years ago

You are dancing with yourself. Strange that there is so little activity here.

I havent seen too many Fassbinder films, The first I watched was Ali: Fear eats the soul. Than later I bought the BRD triology released by criterion. And of these four films, I liked Fear eats the soul best. I thought that Lola was a rather weak film. Maybee I just have to see it again?

[–] salieri125 17 years ago

Well, Lola is certainly the weakest of the BRD trilogy. It has some interesting parts and, like I said, some beautiful cinematography, but it is dramatically less forceful (or coherent) than the others. There are bits of it that I like, though to be honest I haven't seen it or thought much about it since I put up those two previous posts. It is strange that no one has come before; you'd think somebody would have liked it somewhere.

Have you seen any Douglas Sirk movies? Ali is based on Sirk's All That Heaven Allows, of course, and Lola is definitely made to look like a tribute to him. Taken in that context, it begins to make more sense, even if it never achieves the grandeur of Maria Braun and Veronika Voss (which is my favorite). Sirk's films are all very extreme Hollywood melodrama (even he would refer to them as "awful" on occasion), with extra bright colors and giant-sized performances and tearjerking soap opera emotion that some people absolutely hate, but if you go through a few of them they seem much more interesting, and I think I understand what Fassbinder saw in them. Written on the Wind, Imitation of Life, All that Heaven Allows, The Tarnished Angels, and Magnificent Obsession are all good if occasionally hard to stomach. Todd Haynes's Far from Heaven is another tribute to Sirk.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Criterion's release of Berlin Alexanderplatz, which is supposed to be Fassbinder's best work.

"Tis a coward I am - but I will hold your coat."

[–] dirringblob 17 years ago

Yes, its very strange that nobody has commented on this movie before you. But all around imdb you see films not getting any attention. I havent seen any Douglas Sirk movies, but I knew that Fear eats the soul was a kinda upgraded version of All that Heaven Allows. Wasnt Douglas Sirk also Fassbinders favouritte director? I would have investigated Sirk further if it wasn`t for all the other movies I desperatly want to see:-)

The Criterion Collection is so addictive. They have to many interesting films. Ive just bought the Six Moral Tales by Eric Rohmer, and havent gotten around to watching them yet. But I sure am looking forward to it. Berlin Alexanderplatz seems great, but it will sure be a expensive box set. Do you have any must see Fassbinder recomendations?

[–] salieri125 17 years ago

Criterion is like crack, except I think it might be even more expensive;)

My knowledge of Fassbinder doesn't go much beyond yours, but I've heard that The Year of 13 Moons and The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant are good. Querelle is very decisive: everyone says it's either really good or absoloutely terrible, which in my book makes it a must see. Fox and His Friends is one of the more accessible ones.

Sirk was Fassbinder's favorite, I'm sure, and my recommendations for him stand.

"Tis a coward I am - but I will hold your coat."

[–] dirringblob 17 years ago

Thanks for your recomendations. The next Fassbinder i will see, will probably bee Fox And His Friends. I will definatly try out some Sirk movies some day. Thanks for replying to my posts.

[–] melinda2001 9 years ago

Notable movies get lots of attention on the message boards but IMDb deletes old threads which I find borderline criminal. Even Kubrick's 2001 has no threads from before February, and you just know that so much useful information is simply washed away, to maybe get recreated eventually, or maybe not. If you care, write to the admins and ask them to stop this awful practice.

[–] schetti1 16 years ago

That's funny, I don't think Lola is the weakest necessarily. Certainly Veronica and Maria have more dramatic endings, or at least more shocking. But in its own way, without many surprises, shocks or twists, Lola achieves its own greatness.
It has a very different narrative structure than the other two, and the emotional/dramatic peak for me occurs in that powerful scene in the cabaret where Von Bohm first sees Lola perform. From there it goes on to offer a poignant and cynical critique of capitalism in West Germany, and it ends on a wonderfully ambivalent note.
I think Lola is at least as good as the other BRD films (all of which are great), with great performances, script, cinematogrophy etc.
Also, has anyone seen the new Todd Haynes film "I'm not There"? I read that both Harnes and Bob Dylan himself cite Fassbinder as one of their top filmmakers, so I was wondering how his influence might come out there...

[–] 16 years ago

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