The films of Ulrich Köhler

Bungalow (2002)
Sleeping Sickness (2011)
In My Room (2018)

Unlike previously, I started in the middle. The first Ulrich Köhler feature I saw was Sleeping Sickness his 3rd out of 5 features. Although, when I saw the film it was his newest and thereby last. A single film doesn’t highlight the themes or signature elements of a director. That is why seeing two of his other films as part of a double bill was an eye-opening experience and helped place Sleeping Sickness nicely in Köhler’s style.

Alienation, loneliness, isolation. These words appeared over and over again when viewing Ulrich Köhler films in quick succession.

Bungalow

In the early moments of Bungalow, the elements of isolation and loneliness stand out. At the film’s start, we observe a group of soldiers following orders as they disembark in unison from their truck and make their way to McDonald's while ordinary civilians look on. When the captain calls the soldiers back to the truck, they walk back without any protests. Except one. Paul (Lennie Burmeister) continues to sit with a civilian, taking his time and missing his ride back on the truck. It is clear that unlike the rest of the Germans, Paul doesn’t want to follow. He is deserting his military duties. Instead, Paul goes back to his parents house to just rest, chill. Since his parents are away, Paul expects to have the house to himself but he is surprised to find his brother Max (Devid Striesow) and new girlfriend Lene (Trine Dyrholm) show up. Paul takes an immediate liking to Lene. Even though events are presented in a minimalist manner, there appears to be an undercurrent of tension akin to what Maren Ade brilliantly showed in Everyone Else. The overall style and tone of Bungalow also aligns the film within the ‘Berlin School’ movement similar to that of Christian Petzold.

Sleeping Sickness

Sleeping Sickness continues the lonely isolated theme of Köhler’s cinema by showing two of the main characters preferring to stay in Africa rather than return to Germany. Ebbo (Pierre Bokma) in Sleeping Sickness is cut from the same cloth as Paul. On another note, Ebbo also shares some traits with the character of Johann (Peter Ketnath) in Marcelo Gomes’ Cinema, Aspirins and Vultures. In Gomes’ film, Johanna leaves Germany due to WWII and wants to stay in Brazil.

In My Room

In My Room takes the lonely element from Köhler’s films to its ultimate extreme when Armin (Hans Löw) wakes up one day to find that he is the only human left on the planet. All the other humans, male and female, have mysteriously disappeared. In My Room perfectly encapsulates all of Köhler’s signature elements.

Reading

1. Michael Sicinski on In My Room

2. Mark Peranson on Sleeping Sickness

3. David Hudson on Sleeping Sickness

4. Dennis Lim's Cannes interview with Ulrich Köhler

5. Vadim Rizov's interview related to In My Room

Messi finally wins Copa América

Messi's Copa América win.  Buda Mendes/Getty Images

It was a tournament that felt unnecessary. It was the 4th Copa América in just 6 years, after 2015, 2016 (Special 100th anniversary edition), 2019 and now 2021. Although, the tournament was supposed to be held in 2020 but was moved to 2021 due to the pandemic. If there was any tournament that could have been skipped, it was this one. Then to complicate matters, the number of teams was reduced to just the 10 South American teams as opposed to 12 after Qatar and Australia dropped out in 2020. With 2 less teams, there was a possibility of reducing the games but inexplicably the format of the tournament stayed the same as if there were 12 teams with two groups of 5 teams each playing 4 games to only eliminate just the bottom team from each group. That meant 20 group games in total just to eliminate two teams.

Then there was the problem with the co-hosts. With less than 2 weeks before the tournament was meant to start, co-hosts Colombia were withdrawn due to domestic unrest. Then Argentina were ruled out due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases. Brazil stepped in to host the tournament even though they were dealing with a massive COVID crisis of their own. The games continued in empty stadiums as fans weren’t allowed. 6000 or so were allowed for the final but all the other games were without fans.

The quality of the games suffered as well due to those extra pointless group games. Still, there were some positive highlights leading to the final that everyone wanted, Brazil vs Argentina. Neymar vs Messi.

1. Peru’s Quarter-final win over Paraguay 4-3 on penalties was one such positive moment after the game ended 3-3 in regulation. That 90 minutes featured a lot of a drama but even more came in the penalty kicks. A Panenka. Multiple penalties blasted over the bar. Penalties saved. And then, the kicks went to sudden death.

2. While Colombia’s Quarter-final with Uruguay was dull after 90 minutes, the penalties were anything but. David Ospina proved the hero by saving two Uruguayan kicks to lead Colombia into the semis.

3. Messi's goals and dribbles get deserved headlines but his assists are equally beautiful. Two of those beautiful assists were on display in Argentina’s Quarter-Final win over Ecuador. Messi’s first assist to Rodrigo was perfectly weighted and second assist to Martínez was art of minimalism. And then Messi scored a beautiful delicate free-kick as well to round off Argentina’s 3-0 win.

4. Colombia’s penalty heroics came crashing down against Argentina in the Semi-Final when Argentine keeper Emiliano Martínez owned the Colombian players in the shoot-out. Martínez  constantly talked to the Colombian players before the kicks, getting in their head. Those Colombian players missed even before Martínez made the saves. The other big story from that Semi was Messi himself. He is used to getting kicked but he fell down awfully after a challenge from Fabra. A close-up showed blood on Messi’s ankle. At that moment, it wasn’t sure if he could carry on. Yet, that is where Messi’s fighting spirit came out. He continued and even took a free-kick from that same bloody foot. He even emphatically smashed a penalty from that same foot. Messi wasn’t going to miss his chance to make the final and then Martínez did the rest.

5. Colombia’s 3-2 win over Peru in the 3rd place game was dramatic too with Colombia getting the winner with mere seconds left on the clock.

On to the final between Brazil and Argentina on July 10, 2021. 

It was a largely uneventful game with more of the action coming from full bloodied tackles and some fights. The game’s only goal came less than midway through the first half.

Ángel Di María did what Gonzalo Higuaín couldn’t do 7 years earlier on this same Maracanã pitch in the 2014 World Cup final. That is lob the ball over the goalie to score a priceless goal.

The emotions at the final whistle said it all. The Argentine players raced over to Messi. You could tell that Messi was overcome with emotions with decades old weight lifted from his shoulder. After losing in 4 tournament finals (2014 World Cup and 3 Copa América finals), Messi finally won his first international tournament. Argentina won their first Copa América in 28 years and are now tied with Uruguay at 15 Copa América wins.

All the attention in the celebration was around Messi. Neymar’s hug with Messi was beautiful and sweet. To round off a perfect night, Messi got the Best Player and Top Scorer Awards as well. He finished the tournament with 4 goals and 5 assists.

The best player in the world finally has an international trophy.

Andre Penner/AP

 

I Want Your Tree...your tree also..I want all your trees

Taming the Garden (2021, Georgia/Switzerland, Salomé Jashi)

“A picture is worth a thousand words”. 

In this case, the picture left me speechless but instead raised many questions. Why is a tree in the middle of a body of water? Looking closer, it isn’t fixed but is instead being transported? Why is it uprooted and being transported?

I tried to guess the answer but I wasn’t even close. Some answers arrive thanks to Salomé Jashi’s lovely Taming the Garden but the documentary raises even more questions.

Let’s get back to my original question. 

Why is a tree in the middle of a body of water?

The tree is being transported because Georgia’s former prime minister’s unique hobby is to collect century old trees. This means he gets his men to go around the countryside locating these trees, then uprooting them and figuring out how to transport them to his private garden.

The film shows us without many words the challenging Engineering tasks in carefully taking a tree from the original spot in which it has been there for decades and finding a way to move the tree across land and water.

As for the men doing the job? They don’t ask many questions and are often surprised as well at the job they are doing. What they say are rumours or hearsay. Some even wonder if they should ask any questions. As for the locals, all they can do is stand around with cellphones taking pictures. At least, they can do that and aren’t banned from taking pictures of the displaced trees.

There are no men officially going on the record in Salomé Jashi’s film and certainly the Man himself doesn’t make an appearance. He is in the shadows. Maybe the Man doesn’t exist. Maybe he is a tree himself. We won’t ever find out. 

We get a tiny peek at that secret magical garden itself but that raises even many more questions, starting with the biggest one, WHY?

Sure people collect books, vinyl records, movies, wines, paintings, sculptures, [insert other artifacts]. So why not trees?

What about the environment? What about changing the landscape? What about the logistical and engineering task of transporting the tree? What about the carbon footprint? Of course, greenhouse gases and carbon footprint gets a whole new meaning via moving trees.

Oh, stop with the questions.

You have a tree that I want. I will send my men to take it. And you will quietly observe or film. Ok, no more questions. Leave.

Taming the Garden is only 86 minutes long and it is a film that I didn’t want to end. I loved watching it but I have so many more questions still...

oh, beloved tree, will you ever come back?