Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?
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Movie Reviews of Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?
Movie Review: The better question is: Why Doesn't Herr R. Run Amok Sooner?
Summary: 5 Stars
Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1970 film, Why Does Herr R. Run Amok? (Warum läuft Herr R. Amok?) is a black comedy/psychological drama about living a materialistic life of bourgeois conformity. SPOILER ALERT (There is no way to discuss this film without revealing its ending--the running amok.). Set in Munich, this strange film tells the story of Herr Rabb (Kurt Raab), his homemaker wife (Lilith Ungerer), and their young son Amadeus (Amadeus Fengler). Herr Rabb works as a draftsman for an architectural firm run by Mr. Maron (Franz Maron). The happily married Rabbs spend their days concerned about their son's schoolwork, and their evenings watching television together. They live a meaningless middle-class existence, sleepwalking through life together, listening to stupidly-happy pop songs. Their conversations are as banal as most cellphone conversations one is forced to endure in public these days. One night, while watching television, Herr Rabb runs amok, killing his endlessly-talking neighbor (Irm Hermann), his wife, and his son with a candlestick, before hanging himself after arriving at work on time the next day. As Fassbinder draws his empathetic viewer into the boredom of Herr Rabb's existence, the real question becomes why doesn't Herr R run amok sooner.
G. Merritt
Movie Review: Don't you feel like Herr R sometimes?
Summary: 5 Stars
I just finished watching Funny Ha Ha, a cinema verite, "mumblecore" film, and I thought of this film. This film is done is the same realistic style as that one, except this is much darker, brooding, tense, and funny. I adore Fassbinder, and I've seen this film a few times. It has a really creepy power to it, a tension that you can't really explain. The takes are very long (as opposed to Funny Ha Ha), and there is an unmistakeable bleakness to the proceedings which makes this film memorable (and a lot more memorable than Funny Ha Ha). Fassbinder captures the boredom and underlying violence of middle class morality, and it explodes in the final scene, which is realistic and terrifying at the same time. And there's something sad here, you feel for Herr. The scene in the record shop is kind of poignant, considering the 2 shop girls are mercilessly making fun of him, and he's oblivious to it. His family is very similar as well, mocking him for attempting to be human and frail, where others hide their insecurities through their bullying and coldness. So when the ending comes, you feel a sense of relief.
Movie Review: so realistic it's scary
Summary: 5 Stars
why does herr r run amok is not a typical fassbinder movie - and it stands out stylistically from the other 50 or so movies he made... It is shot almost like a documentary.. improvised scenes that bring so much realism to the screen.. it is an interesting look at the german middle class of the time period.. and what it takes to drive a man insane... it is the realism that is so consistently presented throughout the film which makes the climax so unnerving.. it is like real life in the moment.. there is no escaping the images on the screen.. in most movies we are shielded by a sound track (which tells us how to react) or by visual cues like cutting back and forth or zooming.. there is nothing of that here no visual safety net.. This is a young and talented cast and director.. one of the early antitheatre films which would eventually evolve into a more cinematic melodramatic style.. but it are these early groundbreaking works that would set the framework for an inspired and all too brief career..Movie Review: Powerful and Darkly Comic Early Fassbinder
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of those movies that you'll either love or hate I imagine. I loved it but I am a HUGE Fassbinder fan so I am a more than a bit biased. Kurt Raab's performance in this is nothing short of revelatory it also contains some witty dialogue and two of the greatest scenes in a film I have ever seen (i.e. scene w/ raab in record store and the shocking ending). The cinematography is cinema verite in style and gives hints of what was to come (i.e. dogme 95, the digital indie movement). In a weird way you might call this the granddaddy of those films. I am very much looking forward to the release of this film on dvd.Movie Review: One of Fassbinder's best
Summary: 4 Stars
Very deliberately paced and shot in a detached, voyeuristic manner, "Herr R" documents a man's slow and subtle meltdown from his meaningless, banal, unsatisfying environment, ending in a tragic act of violence. The story itself is a familiar one, but the presentation is what really sells it. There is nothing obvious about Raab's transformation -- you really have to pay attention, look for the subtle tics here and there that tell you you're watching a man slowly unravel. And then it's just a waiting game -- what's he gonna do, and when's it gonna happen? And at the very moment you, the viewer, cannot take it anymore (not unlike our beloved anti-hero), BOOM. It happens.
The film is not particularly easy to sit through, if only because we are subjected to the same banalities that are eating away at our protagonist. In fact, these boring, trivial glimpses of everyday drudgery comprise the majority of the film. This was clearly what Fassbinder intended, and when you see that final scene and the robotic, emotionless way Herr Raab goes about it, you know there is no other way the story could have been told. ****
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