Chinese Roulette

Check it out - Anna Karina in a Fassbinder movie! Speaking in German and everything! Anyway, this is one of Fassbinder's most compelling looks at a dysfunctional family. The character of Angela in particular is simply exquisite. The bulk of the movie can be seen as mere preparation for the final act, but I actually liked the setup more. The ending scenes are interesting but feel as if there's something wrong with them.

Wow. An astonishing film to which I guess maybe something like Polanski's "Venus in Fur" feels not entirely dissimilar, but this really could only ever be by Fassbinder. His usual concerns of manipulation and power are here played out in the context of a dysfunctional family. Some RWF regulars here, of course, but also notably Anna Karina. Also: why, I wonder, do so many of his films, like "Martha" and "Berlin Alexanderplatz" have that kiss to the neck dealio? Vampire symbolism, I suppose?

Kinda childish sometimes, or maybe obvious, in my opinion. But it's still interesting.

Good Movie

I'll be honest: it's hard to buy into the idea that all these people would not only remain in the country home under such circumstances, but also humor the disabled daughter and allow themselves to be led into her "trap". However, if you suspend your disbelief, you'll find that Chinese Roulette is a clever movie about one dysfunctional family's cycle of deception, and how that deception breeds resentment and a desire for revenge. A deliberately calculated and unusual movie.

Kraftwerk'ten Radioactivity'nin girdiği an!

Jeder Film von Fassbinder ist eigentlich auf eine Ironie basiert: einerseits sind sie sehr offen sogar unbebaut aber andererseits sind sie sehr komplex indem die Ästhetik der Filme die Werte der bürgerlichen Gesellschaft in die Frage stellt. Seine Ästhetik stellt eine verdinglichte Welt dar, indem Alltag und Unsinn Hand zu Hand existieren, und dieser Film ist keine Ausnahme. Nicht ein Meisterwerk aber trotzdem ein starker Film über Familie im Kapitalismus.

We see the brutalities of maternal ambivalence, repercussions of an incapable child and that no matter what, there are unmarked responsibilities in a family dynamic. Moments that I find unbearable are haunted with a beautiful glare Fassbinder captures.

"A rigorous extrapolation of deception as a survival tactic, and a vicious indictment of victimhood, martyrdom and the games people will play in order to destroy one other." - Ed Gonzalez

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Viewed November 13, 2018.

Semana em honra de Anna Karina (1940 - 2019) filme #3, uma das grandes verdadeiras musas da minha cinefilia. O trabalho de câmera aqui é requintadíssimo como é usual em Fassbinder e casa perfeitamente com o desenrolar da estória que soa mais psicanaliticamente projetiva do que a menininha soa em conjecturar. BlurayRip no MakingOff.

my personal favorite from rwf. this is like the 101 to crazy mind games and the dialog is peppered with sick burns

So strange, detached and slow-paced ... there's something quite uncomfortable about the atmosphere throughout, parts of it even reminded me of Yorgos Lanthimos movies.

I was quite willing to go along with the setup up to and including the scene where they discover each other and start laughing, but thereafter it descends into an abyss. Fassbinder gives me the feeling of a guy who wants to imitate Bergman but knows little about people, about himself and about what point he wants to make. To the extent there is one, it’s probably hypocritical. Peppering it with literary moments of pseudo-profundity doesn’t help. The game itself is predictable and uninteresting.