Afire

The actor Thomas Schubert deserves much of the credit for making "Afire" work as well as it does. He plays a self-absorbed, petty, insecure writer who's so myopically obsessed with the book he's writing that he's oblivious to the world around him. In other hands, it would be a big ask of the audience to spend two hours with such a tiring character, especially since he's in virtually every scene of the movie. But Schubert is able to make this character not only tolerable, but relatable. We're all guilty of missing the bigger picture because of our individual preoccupations. The ending of "Afire" feels a bit overly dramatic. It's like something that would feel right at home in one of those Southern gothic plays by Tennessee Williams or Eugene O'Neill. But I did enjoy the irony of its conclusion -- once our main character starts paying attention to the trauma around him, it's something he uses to write better books. Grade: A.

Literally a slow-burn !! Picks up pace and turns out to be a really good story having depth, subtlety and character developments despite being only 100 odd minutes long. It is so easy to assume and present things from a third person's perspective but when it becomes a first person's point of view, things are not the same. This forms the basis of this movie. Also this has a serious environmental message about negligence and indifference. Liked how the forest fire becomes the silent unsung element through the course of the story as the relationship between the characters develops and progresses.

This had potential, there is a good movie inside this movie, just not the one i watched. It's like this movie has a beginning and an end but not anything in between. This want to be a "character study" but there is not a smooth transition in this leading character's development: He is always immature and suddenly he supposedly has an epiphany. There is no chemistry between him and Nadja, are we suppose to believe that she is attracted to him? Why? How? And the ending is just lazy writing. Symbolisms are naive. And it's "easy". Big events are easy. A more lowkey approach would be better. Having said that, this is a somewhat good slowburn drama, not a "heavy" drama, neither a comedy as it labelled. I loved the song. Kinda interesting, some intense moments, subtle and well acted. As another reviewer mentioned, "That works up to a point, but there was too much missing from the puzzle for me to really find myself engaged with any of them".

This is a current offering on Criterion. I saw the "award winning" and was intrigued. For a film not coming out of Hollywood/US it has every fatal flaw of a Hollywood movie. I can't think of a story line more played out than this one. I'm not doing any spoilers so not much more to say. I kept hoping for an ending that came and then when it did it was overridden by what I might think was an add-on. Such a shame. This is a current offering on Criterion. I saw the "award winning" and was intrigued. For a film not coming out of Hollywood/US it has every fatal flaw of a Hollywood movie. I can't think of a story line more played out than this one. I'm not doing any spoilers so not much more to say. I kept hoping for an ending that came and then when it did it was overridden by what I might think was an add-on. Such a shame.

In interviews director Christian Petzold gave in connection with the release of "Roter Himmel" he said that he was inspired by French summer / coming of age films from for example Eric Rohmer. According to Petzold this type of film had disappeared out of German cinema since "Menschen am Sonntag" (1930, Robert Siodmak, Edgar Ulmer and Rochus Gliese). "Roter Himmel" is indeed situated during summer, but that is where any comparison ends. The beginning of "Roter Himmel" is much more a parody on the American style coming of age films such as "The cabin in the woods" (2011, Drew Goddard) with a car breaking down in the woods and creepy animal noices thereafter. "Barbara" (2012, Christian Petzold) was still an explicit political movie about living in the DDR. Since then the films of Petzold have remained socially concerned but have become more abstract. In "Undine" (2020) a water nymph symbolizes the element of water. In "Roter Himmel" forest fires sumbolizes the element of fire. It looks like Petzold has begun a series about the elements, just like Krzysztof Kieslowski made a series about the ideals of the French revolution in the 90's. We are looking forward to the next film. Forst fires are unfortunately very actual in the summer of 2023. However these fires are not the main theme of the film. "Roter Himmel" is not an eco-drama. They remain on the background, at least that is what we and the characters in the film belief for (too) long. The main character of the film is Leon (Thomas Schubert), a writer writing his second book and desperately trying to match the success of his first novel. He wraps his uncertainty in a cloak of arrogance and self esteem and in so doing gets estranged from the people around him. These people are for him more an obstacle for working undisturbed than a source of inspiration. When they go for a swim he always says that his work doesn't allow him to join them, only to waste his time when they are gone. An important moment in the film comes when the publisher of Leon meets him to discuss the progress of his work. He doesn't like the manuscript, but he is very interested in what the people around Leon are doing. Will Leon's eyes finally open?

This is an absolute gem of a film. I hadn't done my homework - just ticked it a as good option to see in the NZ International Film Festival, but I was hooked form the opening scenes. It's a subtle, beautifully played film, based around a young writer (Leon) who is struggling to put the finishing touches to a novel, while staying at what is turning out to be the holiday home from hell. Leon is his own worst enemy, always makes the wrong choice, and then beats himself up about it. There is a sinister backdrop to the story, and an unsettling tonal shift toward the end - but that's life, right? Despite the dark undercurrent that gradually emerges, the film is also very funny, and therefore works on more than one level - as a study of human behaviour but also as pure entertainment. I loved this film, and I highly recommend it.

Leon and Felix, two young men with work to do, head to a family cottage to complete their tasks. But a beautiful interloper upsets their plans. It's a familiar set up, given a memorable outing in Lynn Shelton's 'Your Sister's Sister.' The remote setting, the unexpected third wheel, sexual tension, secrets and lies - all the familiar elements are here. There is lots to admire about Afire, most notably the performances from Paul Beer as Nadja, Langston Uibel as Felix, Enno Trebs as Devid and Matthias Brandt as Helmut, a character who arrives late but has a very interesting narrative arc. Ultimately, however, the film fails to deliver a satisfying emotional climax. The tension between Leon and Nadja seems forced, resulting from some unpolished plot manoeuvres. Why does Nadja not reveal her literary background? How can she just 'turn up' in the bedroom with Leon? The main misfire, however, is the casting of Thomas Schubert as Leon. He just never convinces as tortured writer, a character type exemplified by Paul Giamatti in Sideways. It is a puzzling error, given that the other characters are so well cast. The sound design also slightly annoys by making the buzzing of insects prominent. It is presumably done to put us 'inside' of Leon's discomfort, but it is merely irritating. The ending felt like it was missing a layer. The turnaround in Leon's fortunes is a nice touch, but I expected to hear that his story was pure fiction inspired by the events, and that the tragedy he relays in his prose had not, in fact, taken place. But the script did not take that step, and that feels like a missed opportunity. Leon is more interested in rekindling a romance than grieving for a friend, and that made me dislike him. There are many good elements here. Nadja is intriguing and likable, and the romance that blossoms between two characters was unexpected and surprising. The approaching fire is a nice literal and figurative touch. Afire is worth checking out, but it feels like is could have been so much more than it is.

The film focuses on Leon, who is a bitter, arrogant, self-obsessed and egotistical writer. Ostensibly, the story is about him realising, or his need to realise, that the world isn't about him. However, the unremarkable cinematography and acting aside, the way that they went around exploring this was very shallow and disappointing. Resorting to making his editor have cancer, or killing off his two friends, and revealing these exclusively while he is on a egotistical monologue or rant, makes the story feel like it was written by someone who still doesn't understand what compassion and letting go of egotism means in real-life terms, and can only process it in terms of these overly dramatic revelations. "Oh, I was just confronting my love interest for not answering a question I didn't ask, and my editor starts having a heart attack." "Oh, I was just confronting my love interest for gossiping behind me, turns out she was talking about my editor's cancer which I didn't know about." "Oh, I was just confessing my love to my love interest, and I am interrupted by the police who brings the news of my friends' death." "Wow, maybe there are other people in life!" One shouldn't need disease and death to realise they are not the centre of the world. True compassion is when you can see, understand and practice it in the mundanity of regular life, and it seemed like the film didn't really have a comprehension of that, and it completely fails to explore letting go of self-centredness in any way that would leave the audience with a piece of humanly wisdom. Instead, we're left with an overly-theatrical film that comes across as it was written by a teenager in an English class. I found it really hilarious that even after all of these dramatic revelations, Leon's first course of action is to turn these events into a novel, which is so ironic in a film about letting go of one's self-obsession.

Leon (Thomas Schubert ) a student photographer and Felix (Langston Uibel), a young published writer go for a working holiday in a remote cabin. A forest fire rages and glows off in the distance. On the way, their car breaks down. Felix, lanky and athletic runs to find a short cut to the cabin as Leon, a bit pudgier and more morose waits for his return. We are quickly put on edge as though this might be entering some kind of adult fairy tale. But that is not the case but the film will take on a mythic tone. Though the wind is blowing in from the sea and allegedly keeping the blaze away from the property, not so other obstacles to a quiet vacation. Blows against Leon's ego and sense of self-worth will be repeatedly challenged. They are first visited by Nadja, a family friend played by Paula Beers, a Petzold regular. Her behavior runs from kind and accepting to impatient, often with Leon's closed off and introverted nature. Another visitor, Devid, a good-looking life guard arrives and further complicates the relationships in some unexpected ways. A second another visitor arrives - Leon's editor/publisher who is there to provide feedback on Leon's new manuscript which becomes another blow to Lean's ego. Meanwhile, the fire continues to burn in the distance - literally and metaphorically. Thomas Schubert is wonderful in his portrayal of a young man confounded by so much while he instead, as a writer, he might be better off open to the vagaries and contingencies of life. Like the best Petzold films, complications build quietly. Small revelations provide insights into human nature that each viewer may interpret differently. But build they do, until we are fairly devastated by the film's conclusion.

Fire is a force that can destroy and devastate, but it's also one thar can cleanse, sweeping away what's of questionable value in order to clear space for robust, vigorous, valued new growth. And, sometimes, it can do both simultaneously, as demonstrated in writer-director Christian Petzold's latest, a searing drama/wry comedy about four old/newfound friends who are unwittingly drawn together at a summer house near the Baltic seacoast. Their time together proves revelatory, stressful and enlightening, in part because of their interactions, the disclosures that come out of those relationships, and the looming threat of ravaging forest fires that threaten them and their existence, both literally and metaphorically. The film is a slowburn in every sense of the word, especially at the outset, with a somewhat cryptic narrative that seems rather meandering at times, but that sets the stage for what's to follow in the back half. The picture subsequently presents a witty but profoundly insightful examination of what makes us who we are, how much we enjoy or endure our lives, and what we can do to make it better for ourselves when we eliminate what no longer serves us. In many respects, "Afire" is probably not what most viewers will expect, but, then, that's a huge part of its appeal, a refreshing, engaging look at life and what we make of it, a valuable exercise given how abruptly it can all be taken away, leaving us to ask ourselves, what did we do with the time we had and was it indeed worth it in the end? Give this one time to unfold, and let it sink in. It may help you realize and understand more about yourself than you can possibly imagine.