The American Friend + The White Ribbon

Episode Notes

German bleakhause. A taste of German nuwave and cultural revolution. After a year chasing films like Possession and the Luca Guadagnino Suspiria, Double Feature goes on a quest to uncover the real German deep cuts. The low key insanity of The American Friend. Dennis Hopper and Bruno Ganz is enough, but it’s really only beginning. Who doesn’t love a West German Contax Zeiss prime? As long as it’s an MMG, we don’t need any ninja star bokeh over here. Sorry, forgot what this show was about for a second. Everything is terrible all the time and it’s not even World War 1 yet. How telling you exactly what to get from the film makes it even more puzzling. Is Michael Haneke a pain in the ass? Finally, someone sees this cold dark place for what it really is. When mastery allows you to fuck about in a way people wouldn’t accept otherwise.

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The American Friend

Released: June 24, 1977
Runtime: 128 min | IMDB | Wikipedia

Director: Wim Wenders
Writer: Wim Wenders
Starring: Dennis Hopper, Bruno Ganz, Lisa Kreuzer

Tom Ripley, an American who deals in forged art, is slighted at an auction in Hamburg by picture framer Jonathan Zimmerman. When Ripley is asked by gangster Raoul Minot to kill a rival, he suggests Zimmerman, and the two, exploiting Zimmerman's terminal illness, coerce him into being a hitman.

The White Ribbon

Released: October 6, 2009
Runtime: 144 min | IMDB | Wikipedia

Director: Michael Haneke
Writer: Michael Haneke
Starring: Christian Friedel, Ernst Jacobi, Burghart Klaußner

Strange events happen in a small village in the north of Germany during the years just before World War I, which seem to be ritual punishment. The abused and suppressed children of the villagers seem to be at the heart of this mystery.