Film releases of the week: »The Woman King«, »Rimini«, »In a country that no longer exists«

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Scene from »The Woman King«: Splendor and effect

Photo: Ilze Kitshoff / Sony Pictures

In cinemas from October 6th:

»The Woman King«

In the film age of superheroes, epic adventure cinema is considered finished: Those who are not under contract with Marvel or DC, but still want to stage with great effort, can pack up: Original content without a built-in comic fan base is considered too risky and too expensive by the studios.

Compared to the »Avengers«, US director Gina Prince-Bythewood only had a rather small budget of 50 million dollars for her tour de force »The Woman King«.

It is all the more impressive how much power your film now unfolds on the screen.

The Sony production is an action spectacle that initially seems old-fashioned in front of a (largely fictitious) historical backdrop, it appeals to an audience that, due to a lack of supplies, will probably be happy to reach for classics like »Braveheart« or »Gladiator« again and again when they need it this kind of highly emotional show value cinema demands.

»The Woman King« is an excellent, ultimately very modern alternative, because almost all the main characters here are female and people of color.

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Viola Davis in "The Woman King": Scars Full of PrideBy Lars-Olav Beier

And how: Oscar winner Viola Davis plays the battle-hardened general of a female warrior militia in the West African kingdom of Dahomey.

At her side she has two younger but no less furious comrades, dynamically embodied by Sheila Atim and Lashana Lynch.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the so-called Agojie fought together against a hostile tribe, but also against sinister Europeans who fueled the conflict and competition between the ethnic groups in order to be able to continue acquiring cheap slaves.

Nanisca (Davis) tries to convince her moderate king (John Boyega) between numerous gripping and physically stunning skirmishes that the future lies in the palm oil trade, not the slave market.

The big political lines, as well as the depth of Davis' character, are unfortunately always neglected, because a lot of the script focus is on the touching, but also a little too soapy coming-of-age story of the young Amazon Nawi (Thuso Mbedu). .

But that hardly takes away from this full adventure film shine and effect.

For Afro-American cinema, »The Woman King« after »Black Panther« is another milestone that is absolutely necessary for the masses, including female superheroes.

»The Woman King« USA 2022;

Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, written by Dana Stevens, Maria Bello.

Starring: Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, Sheila Atim, Thuso Mbedu, John Boyega.

135 minutes

»Rimini«

Ulrich Seidl looks at his subjects through a narrow telescope, the detail is small, limited.

In an interview at the Berlinale, where his new film »Rimini« celebrated its premiere, he said that the place Rimini was shaped by Russians at the time of shooting from 2017 to 2019.

You don't see any of this in the film, where Rimini continues to appear as a refuge for German-speaking pensioners and, above all, female pensioners.

Pop singer Richie Bravo (Michael Thomas) delights them on the spot: first of all with songs, for a few more bills also with real

.

That's how Richie manages to make ends meet - until his adult daughter Tessa (Tessa Göttlicher) shows up, whom he hasn't seen for so long that at first he mistakes her for a thankful young groupie and flirts with her.

Tessa is pregnant and demands the money for her baby that Richie once refused her mother.

Now Richie has to see how somehow more money can be made from his worn enamel and strained potency.

The limited excerpt from »Rimini«, the first part of Seidl's controversial film project »Böse Spiele«, also includes the fact that a few black refugees, who keep appearing on the foggy beach, are used as staffage-like punch lines without having a story of their own.

The supposedly Arab family, to which Tessa's partner belongs and who traveled to Italy with him, must also remain strangers.

But what Seidl does focus on – perhaps despite, perhaps because of the many omissions – is Richie Bravo's peculiar dignity.

This is mainly due to the devotion with which Michael Thomas accepts his role and thus Richie's greasy leather coat and tight pants.

With every song the grotesqueness of this figure disappears and Richie becomes more plausible as a conscientious service provider for a little escapism.

And when he finally sings against the Nazi songs of his father (Hans-Michael Rehberg), who is suffering from dementia, then even the hit song is unexpectedly justified.

Perhaps Ulrich Seidl has never been more generous than here.

»Rimini« AT/D/F 2021. Written and directed by Ulrich Seidl.

With: Michael Thomas, Tessa Göttlicher, Hans-Michael Rehberg, Inge Maux.

114 minutes

»In a country that no longer exists«

The multiple award-winning TV director Aelrun Goette has given her cinema debut a fairytale-like title.

There is little romanticized about her film about a young woman who unexpectedly had the prospect of a modeling career in East Germany at the beginning of 1989.

Or better: a career as a mannequin, as it was correctly called in the GDR at the time.

The details are right in Goette's film - because it is largely her own story.

Actually, Susanne (Marlene Burow) wanted to study and then become a writer.

Because the Stasi found a copy of Orwell's »1984« on her, it went to the workbench instead of to the university.

But she doesn't have to stay long there, because she is spotted on the tram by a photographer, who gives her access to the state fashion industry.

The first photo shoots for »Sibylle«, the highly respected fashion magazine of the GDR, followed, then the state entrance exam for mannequins.

That there is still more to discover behind the official scenes, secret parties, do-it-yourself fashion shows and free expression instead of officially approved messages, is what Susanne gets from gay stylist Rudi (Sabin Tambrea) and photographer Coyote (David Schütte), who has been banned from working ) shown.

Just how to deal with the Stasi, whom she wants to recruit as an informant in the underground – Susanne has to find that out on her own.

GDR and glamour: In the best moments, »In a country that no longer exists« brings these seemingly incompatible things together and honors the pursuit of beauty as a creative, sometimes even rebellious act. Unfortunately, the high gloss of the fashion scenes is also the style in which the rest of the film is shot.

Especially Susanne's conflicts with her family, the conformist father and the cheeky little sister, Goette repeatedly turns out to be schematic.

Uninspired performances by camera (Benedict Neuenfels) and music (Boris Bojadzhiev) also cause redundancies, because either the music repeats what you already see or vice versa.

With all the appealing moments that occur again and again in Goette's film, it is his will to style of all things that he sorely lacks.

»In a country that no longer exists« D 2022. Written and directed by: Aelrun Goette.

With: Marlene Burow, Sabin Tambrea, Claudia Michelsen, David Schutte.

100 minutes

streaming

»Catherine, reluctant lady« (Amazon Prime Video)

When 14-year-old Lady Catherine, known as Birdy, first discovered blood between her legs, she immediately made her will - after all, she was going to die.

She doesn't, but around 1200 in England you can hardly blame a young woman for being overwhelmed by her first menstrual period.

First the nanny has to explain things and then a strip of linen folded into a bandage is needed.

Luckily, Birdy knows other things very well.

That she is by no means willing to be married off by her father just because he can pay off his debts that way.

And that there's no harm in greeting prospective bridegrooms with horrid singing and dodgy hats.

Hopefully you'll find your way back on your own.

It's a wonderful little spectacle that US actress and director Lena Dunham made from Karen Cushman's 1994 children's book »Catherine Called Birdy«: a revisionist emancipation story that combines feminism and farts, a little rough and very loving at the same time .

Lena Dunham rose to fame ten years ago with the zeitgeist series »Girls«.

With this youth material, she is now demonstrating her artistic maturity: in her film version of »Catherine, Lady reluctantly«, written and directed to the point, the Middle Ages become a wild adventure playground with an even wilder heroine.

Birdy just wants to play a little longer before growing up.

Shooting star Bella Ramsey ("Game of Thrones", soon to be "The Last of Us") embodies her magnificently,

and Andrew Scott (»Fleabag«) as her father makes the film even more worth seeing than it already is.

What a joy, farts included, of course.

»Catherine, Lady reluctant« UK 2022. Written and directed by Lena Dunham.

Starring: Bella Ramsey, Andrew Scott, Billie Piper, Isis Hainsworth Joe Alwyn.

108 minutes