Von Christian Fuchs
Radio FM4
Monday midnight on FM4 – and everywhere there are podcasts: FM4 Film Podcast
So it happened again. co-worker Pia Reiser and I attended press screenings of current films – and left the cinema with very clear impressions. But even if our opinions overlapped a lot, they by no means coincided with the echoes of the global critics.
The majority of reviewers celebrated the action spectacle “Top Gun: Maverick‘ and the eccentric indie film ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once“ Namely hymnically off. While Pia and especially yours truly struggled with many aspects of these films. Only in the retro horror thriller “X“ our perspectives correlated in a positive way with the good reviews on the net.
Such a contrast is of course an exciting hook for one FM4 Film Podcast. Why is the new “Top Gun” being so enthusiastically celebrated at this time of a disturbing war and a new wave of rearmament? Is it just the eternally young-looking Tom Cruise and a social nostalgia behind it? Or is it much more? And what makes the insane multiverse trip “Everything Everywhere All At Once” the alleged must-have film of the year? Doesn’t this non-stop frenzy of images and sounds pack an extremely banal message behind hectic cuts? Discussion material galore for our podcast episode.
paramount
The film about the rearmament wave
At the time, Top Gun had a relatively small budget of $15 million. Nevertheless, director Tony Scott wanted to present an aviator film that should convince with unprecedented realism. The ambition paid off. With the help of the American Department of Defense, it was possible to show off the visuals on the screen. The film grossed around $356 million at the worldwide box office.
What made the enormous success? “Top Gun” tells the story of an underdog who aims high – in the truest sense of the word. The young Tom Cruise embodies Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a US Navy pilot who is constantly at odds with his superiors. A rebel fighting the system that pushes buttons. And a hot love story, producer mogul Jerry Bruckheimer thought, also attracts a female audience.
paramount
In retrospect, the film is neither realistic nor rebellious. Tony Scott tells a male fantasy in grandiosely exaggerated images like those from the television commercials of the time. ltd Maverick is a soldier-type poster boy who submits to the machinery but not to his boss. A mendacious propaganda epic, some critics complained as early as 1986.
Much later, a prominent fan spoke up. Quentin Tarantino provided the ultimate subtext for Top Gun in a film appearance. In truth, the film is a subversive masterpiece because it is about homosexuality in a hidden way. This fits the eternal rumor about Tom Cruise, who is said to be hiding his sexual orientation.
In 2022 everything will look different again. “Top Gun: Maverick‘, the long-awaited sequel, can’t be kept up Gay Porn– glossing over quotes. Tom Cruise brings back his toothpaste smile, this time in a film so blatantly and unrefractedly celebrating soldiering that the Pentagon might applaud it. Perfectly filmed Military Porn, matching a new wave of rearmament. Pia Reiser doesn’t see it as strictly as you can hear in the film podcast.
filmcoopi
supersaturation as a principle
Multitasking is not healthy, occupational physicians agree. The life of the launderette owner Evelyn is a particularly good, because bad, example. Annoying customers, a troubled marriage, conflicts with the daughter, an annoying father, the woman is harassed from all sides. And then the tax return has to be submitted urgently.
„Everything Everywhere All At Once” starts with an insight into Evelyn Wang’s ultra-hectic everyday life. We suffer almost physically with the amazing Michelle Yeoh. And this beginning is still the most relaxing part of the film. Because for absurd reasons, Evelyn is catapulted into a parallel world. And another and another. In these worlds people fight, run, argue, in a breathless staccato rhythm.
The protagonist travels and races through the multiverse at a crazy pace. The term has been around since the new “Dr. Strange” film on everyone’s lips. “Everything Everywhere All At Once” easily tops the entire Marvel universe in terms of madness.
The directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schreinert, known as The Daniels, are known for cinema with roof damage. In her previous film “Swiss Army Man‘ Daniel Radcliffe played a farting corpse on a journey of self-discovery. Now they have created what many consider to be the most bizarre film of the year. Countless genres collide every second, the visual and acoustic oversaturation is the principle.
Is this what the cinema of the future will look like? It may be. But it’s also quite possible to find this almost two-and-a-half-hour-long nonsense unbearable, like a roller coaster ride that only causes nausea. After all, the whole self-serving circus boils down to the simplest of messages: Friends and family matter, someone out there loves you. Is it even more banal, dear directors?
A24
Homage to a subversive time
A film inspires us both, which like “Everything Everywhere All At Once” was produced by hipster studio A24. A film whose scenario is known from countless slasher movies: A group of innocent young people find themselves in a lonely area – and there they have to deal with a cold-blooded killer. Also “X‘ from the rather casual indie director Ti West boils down to this showdown.
But in this film, the journey is the destination. That means: The big carnage in the last third is actually the least interesting part – but what happens before that should be seen as a genre fan. The superlative Mia Goth stars as a porn starlet, and the screenplay delights with dialogue about promiscuity, aging and female power. “X” ultimately bows to the former subversive era of horror cinema – casually.