Tuesday, February 28, 2017

1981 Winner, Mephisto



Mephisto

Directed by:  István Szabó

Distributor:  Analysis Film Releasing Corporation

Released:  April 1981

Country:  Hungary

Faustian:  made or done for present gain without regard for future cost or consequences

The Faustian bargain is not much of one.   It’s when you're willing to give anything, ANYTHING, for your obsession.  The oft-told classic tale is of a man named Faust, appropriately enough, who sells his soul to The Devil’s bargainer, Mephistopheles, for 24 years of magical powers.  The story has about a hundred permutations:  In real life, Robert Johnson, blues-man from Mississippi, was said to have sold his soul for mad guitar skills.  The 1936 short story “The Devil and Daniel Webster” by Stephen Vincent Benét is considered a classic.  In 1987’s Angel Heart, a musician named Johnny Favorite is called upon by Louis Cypher (Louis Cyper—Lucifer—get it?) to pay the debt of his soul for becoming a big time heartthrob singer.  Sometimes the deal is in the form of a bet, and the mortal wins in the end, like in Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (though anyone who had heard that song knows that the Devil and his Band of Demons sound way cooler than fiddlin' Johnny).

Pre-Faustian deal Hendrik
In Mephisto, the 1981 film from Hungary, the Faust character is that of Hendrik Hoefgen, a decent actor in pre-Nazi Hamburg.  When we first meet Hendrik, we find him in a state of angst, almost to the point of panic.  The cause:  An impressive performance, followed by praise of, a fellow thespian, a pretty and noteworthy young actress on the rise.  Hendrik craves the spotlight so much it hurts him to see another person in it.
 
Hendrik is an actor, and his portrayer, Klaus Maria Brandauer, overacts in the role appropriately, every emotion being at a heightened state, as if to tip off the audience that Hendrik himself cannot be just Hendrik.  He is a man without a core, and as such is open to the Faustian bargain he will be presented.

Nazi General Mephisto and Hendrik Mephisto
Hendrik’s sole purpose is to be an important actor, perhaps one day starring in his favorite play, Hamlet.  Early in the film, we see him distance himself from a relationship with his black girlfriend—it seems he does love her, but her race won’t help him in his ambitions as the Nazis gain power.  Hendrik tries to become famous by heading up a Bolshevik theater troupe—that association, not based on any true political principles, will also be jettisoned once it becomes a bad idea in National Socialist Germany.  Hendrik also will ditch a wife he married to better his career once she no longer is a benefit to him.  And instead of playing Hamlet, he takes a role in the play Faustus, and is amazing in his role of Mephisto/Mephistopheles.

Then one day Hitler takes over Germany.  The party wants to have the right people in the right places,
Robert De Niro as Louis Cyphre, Angel Heart
and a Nazi General comes to Hendrik and expresses to him how great an actor he is, and how important he can be to the new government.  We have a man who would do anything to be an important actor, the most important actor, and here is a chance at that greatness.  Whatever will he do?

This movie has interesting performances and is an insightful character study.  There is a lot to like here.  But I have to say I didn’t quite take to it, really.  What was missing, I think, was that the film never gave us a chance to empathize with Hendrik.  I thought of Michael Moriarty’s character in the 1978 miniseries Holocaust, who similarly allows his character to be corrupted by the allure of being an important Nazi.  In that case, we meet him early on, a likable if milquetoast lawyer who seems swept up by circumstances, lacking the moral core to stave off the evil of Nazism.  Hendrik, conversely, embraces whatever will get him
Tenacious D also put their souls at risk versus the Devil
ahead, and so we never root for him, either to make the right choices or to get out of the consequences of his wrong ones.  Perhaps instead of working as an actor for the Nazis, had he challenged the Nazi General  to a rock-off, he would have been better off.  It worked against The Devil when he went down to Georgia.

The Title:  Comes from the title of a 1936 novel by a German exile named Klaus Mann.  The subject of the novel is closely based on a real life German actor named Gustaf Gründgens, who most notably appeared in Fritz Lang’s 1931 masterpiece, M.  But his most famous role was that of Mestipho.

The Culture:  An instructive portrayal of what it must have been like having to be in Germany during the failing Wiemar Republic, and having to learn how to deal with the rise of Nazism.

Agenda danger:  The message of the film is a profound one—when one is willing to accept any principles, or lack of principles, grave consequences are inevitable.  

Best Picture that year:  Chariots of Fire.

Rating:  I do think this movie went on too long and that there was too long a wait to get to what the film was really about, but as a Faust story, it certainly is better than Angel Heart.  And again, Klaus Maria Brandauer’s performance is perfectly over-the-top, and hard to look away from.  Brandauer has been in a handful of American movies, including 1985’s Out of Africa, for which he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor. 

Tuesday, February 21, 2017

1982 Winner, Begin the Beguine



Begin the Beguine

Director:  José Luis Garci

Distributed by: 20th Century Fox International Classics

Released:  March 1982

Country:  Spain

When they begin the beguine
It brings back the sound of music so tender
It brings back a night of tropical splendor
It brings back a memory ever green
I'm with you once more under the stars
And down by the shore an orchestra's playing
And even the palms seem to be swaying
When they begin the beguine

The 1935 Cole Porter standard “Begin the Beguine” is about lost love and the bittersweet feeling its remembrance brings.  It’s a pretty song that itself evokes a sadness about love that is gone while simultaneously bringing a gratefulness for having had the love in the first place. (The video below is a nice version by Pete Townshend off his 1983 Another Scoop album.)  And you better damn well love this song if you are going to watch Begin the Beguine, because you sure are going to hear it plenty (with a healthy dose of “Pachelbel’s Canon” as well).

Elena and Antonio
The movie is a bit more specific than the song.  World-famous poet, Antonio Albajara, who had fled Spain in the 30’s for political reasons, returns home a bigshot for having won the Nobel Prize for Literature.  But he isn't coming home to show off or anything like that—it’s because Antonio has been diagnosed with an unnamed terminal illness and has only months to live.  It seems Antonio, who now teaches at Cal-Berkley and has been married with children for many years, had left behind in Spain many friends, soccer teammates, and of course the love of his life, Elena.

To live it again is past all endeavor
Except when that tune clutches my heart
And there we are, swearing to love forever
And promising never, never to part
What moments divine, what rapture serene
'Til clouds came along to disperse the joys we had tasted
And now when I hear people curse the chance that was wasted
I know but too well what they mean

It’s clear when Antonio and Elena reunite, they feel both the joy of having been reunited as well as a pain at having been apart for so long.  It is as if they had never spent a minute apart, their comfort with each other being palpable.   But this is not just a sappy love story—there is humor and enjoyment as we watch Antonio hang out with his old friends, and his interactions with an amusing hotel manager break up the melodrama.  But the melodrama is the main thing, and though he shares his secret with only one friend, the idea of Antonio’s terminal illness is always present, just below the surface.  We are left to wonder whether it was a wise idea to rouse up all these feelings at this point in Antonio’s life.

So don't let them begin the beguine
Let the love that was once a fire remain an ember
Let it sleep like the dead desire I only remember
When they begin the beguine

Begin the Beguine is a rather predictable movie, but I didn’t find that to be a problem, really.  Both Antonio and Elena’s characters are likeable and straightforward, perhaps to give those watching the chance to relate.  One could complain that it would have been nice for the filmmaker to have mixed in another tune or two in to break things up, but the repeated playing of the same music underscores the power a song has to bring us back to a past love.

O yes, let them begin the beguine, make them play
Till the stars that were there before return above you
Till you whisper to me once more: "Darling, I love you!"
And we suddenly know what heaven we're in
When they begin the beguine

The Title:  Volver a Empezar.  The movie was also known as To Begin Again.

The Culture:  The film is set in northern Spain in the city of Gijon on the Bay of Biscay.  The photography is appealing, with lots of shots of coastal Spain and small town quaintness.  Antonio is a Spaniard at heart, even if Americanized, and in his return home, he embraces his culture with nostalgia and fondness.

Where can I find a copy of this movie, Clyde?
Agenda danger:  The Spanish Civil War drove Antonio from Spain, and we see him in the final moments of the film back at Berkley where he sought freedom to speak.  That was back when Berkley welcomed free speech.

Best Picture that year:  Gandhi.

Rating:  Call for the revocation of my Man Card if you want, I liked this film a lot.  Again, it was predictable and blatantly melodramatic, but I couldn’t help but like watching the two old lovers/friends enjoy their finite time together in lovely Spain.  I admit I did feel the need to watch something like Dirty Harry to clear my palette.    

Note:  This one was extremely difficult to find; I recommend streaming on a free site and then quitting membership before you are charged.