The 13TH Hall of Fame

WARNING: spoilers below

WARNING: "The Marriage of Maria Braun" spoilers below

WARNING: "Maria Braun" spoilers below

WARNING: spoilers below

The visuals in Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, ...and Spring are very beautiful and deliberate, which enhance the natural splendour of the landscape. The pace is incredibly slow with minimal dialogue, allowing audiences time to contemplate the film's philosophical and spiritual content. While the film is overtly Buddhist, the moral lessons contained within are universally understood and accessible, even if some of the visual symbolism will be lost on viewers without much knowledge of the religion's lore.

Warning: the rest of this review contains spoilers.

While most of the film is very calming and easy to watch, the abundance of animal cruelty in the opening Spring segment puts up a huge barrier that is difficult to get past. At first I didn't understand why the old monk would let the little bastard, who was revelling in his sadism with a maniacal laugh, continue to torture these animals when he obviously disapproved of the boy's actions. Ultimately he was allowing the young boy to make his own mistakes and suffer the consequences of those actions, something the boy would carry with him for the rest of his life, as evident in the Winter segment. While I like the lesson that was learned, I don't think it warranted or made up for the abuse those animals really endured.

One thing I noticed, and thought was a little clever was when the old monk warned his apprentice about the dangers of his lust during Summer. He tells the boy that it will lead to the desire to possess, and ultimately to murder. What he doesn't warn the boy about, is that after perpetuating the cycle of life and death (by committing murder), Buddhists believe that the next step is a craving to no longer experience the world and the pain that comes with it. This eventually manifests itself during the Autumn segment, when the young man attempts a suicide ritual after murdering his wife. The old monk is continuing to let the younger man discover lessons by himself, reflecting the importance of self-discovery that is very prevalent in Buddhism.

While I particularly enjoyed the Autumn and Winter segments, I really wish this film had ended after Winter. The final Spring segment was completely unnecessary, as Winter already cemented the concept of the cyclical nature of life, and the cycle of death and rebirth. Showing the former apprentice taking on the role of his master with the orphaned boy as his pupil was a little redundant, because this was already heavily implied to be the case during Winter. The only thing I liked about the final segment was very minor, and that was the fact that the shrine doors and temple had been repainted. These final scenes just seemed like a conduit for more animal suffering, even in the edited version of the film which still shows the sequence with the turtle. After surpassing the cruelty at the start of the film, these final scenes drag the film back down into repulsive territory, ending on a very bitter note instead of an enlightened one.

I'm not fully sure what to make of this one, the opening scene made me think it was a black comedy of sorts but then it turned into a tale of a woman using her cunning (and her looks) to get through hard times. I can't say I found Maria to be particularly likable, but she was certainly interesting and Schygulla's performance was strong throughout. At times she was sympathetic, other times I felt as if she was a nasty femme fatale that needed a good plugging. I was more amused by the ending than anything else, not sure what that says about me.

What stuck out to me the most was the lighting and photography, which was beautiful. I read that the film's cinematographer Michael Ballhaus died a little over a month ago, very sad. His work on the film is commendable.

All in all I liked it, although from the poster I expected it to be more titillating. Instead I found myself feeling somewhat disgusted but never bored.


6.5/10

The Broken Circle Breakdown is a story about a pair of star-crossed lovers, whose relationship is tested when their daughter is diagnosed with cancer. The plot is fairly simple, but has an emotional complexity as it swings back and forth between times when the couple were madly in love, and the devastation wrought upon their lives from their daughter's illness. These jumps in time are easy to follow, and create a roller-coaster-like effect that I think is more effective than if the story was told from a linear perspective.

Throughout the film, there are many musical interludes featuring the main characters' bluegrass band. They never felt forced and made sense from a storytelling perspective, however as someone who greatly dislikes all forms of country music, I felt that they often went on for far too long. The music is an important element in the characters' lives and their relationship, and I get that it was meant to enhance the feeling of certain scenes, but more often than not the music took me completely out of the film instead.

Despite not caring for the soundtrack, I still found the film to be very engaging, thanks to the performances and chemistry between the main actors. I did like the first half of the film more than the last, due to the emotional highs and lows being more pronounced at the start, whereas towards the end it just became very tragic without having many light-hearted or romantic scenes to contrast against. I really felt for the ending, even though I knew the film was heading down that route. I'm usually rather detached when it comes to highly dramatic and romantic films, so I commend Broken Circle Breakdown for drawing me in and evoking a response. I definitely never would have watched this if it wasn't nominated, so despite the devastation I'm glad I saw it.