“Yella”, a German film opening at the Cinema Village Theater in New York
on May 16th, is marred by a completely unsatisfying conclusion but up
until that point it is first-rate. At the end of this review, I will
discuss that conclusion but preface it by a subheading of Spoiler just
to make sure that you are warned in advance.
Director Christian Petzold, whose work I am not familiar with, describes
his film in the press notes as follows:
"I often work with characters who have been presumptuous, who have
wanted a little too much and who are now on the outside, shut out, no
longer belonging. Their plans and intrigues, and their work towards
getting back in again, into life, into society, into love … The East [of
Germany] is a region that can no longer feed its inhabitants in dignity.
People are forced to leave there, but walking away is the hard part. The
world they leave behind, the towns and villages which have been emptied,
ghost towns. Someone who has come from a ghost town like this and who
wants to enter into life, but carries around the ghostly with them, that
is what Yella is all about."
Yella (Nina Hoss, a long-time collaborator with Petzold) is the name of
a thirty-something woman who is living in a small town in former East
Germany. She has just broken up with her husband Ben (Hinnerk
Schönemann) and has taken a job as an accountant in Hamburg. Although
she fears him, she decides to accept a ride with him to the local train
station. As soon as she sits down in the front seat of the car, he
begins to assail her verbally. It is obvious that he is disturbed. When
she insists that he stop the car and release her, he ignores her request
and continues with his verbal assault which is escalating to even higher
levels.
full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2008/05/12/yella/
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