Movie: “The Beast in the Jungle”
A club without a name, a party out of time. A man and a woman, John and May, meet in 1979 and immediately get lost in the night “like in a spider’s web”, as it is said in the beautiful film by Patric Chiha, which is now showing in cinemas. “The Animal in the Jungle” is based on a short story by Henry James, the master of melancholy, of unfulfilled life, of missed happiness. The original dates back to 1903. Chiha transfers the material into the present and onto the dance floor, into an eternal flow of music, dancing bodies and colors.
The beautiful May, played by Anaïs Demoustier, lives only for dancing. One night in a Paris club she meets an old acquaintance, John, played by Tom Mercier. He seems lost, rushed, confused, as if he were suffering from something he himself doesn’t understand. In the midst of the celebrants he seems like a foreign body. Years ago he told her a secret: that he was destined for something “extraordinary” and that he was expecting an event that would change his life.
May will join John, accompany him on his search, and give up her own life. The film locks the two of them in the club, which becomes a temple. Here we pay homage to a god whose arrival is constantly being delayed. What are May and John waiting for? Your first kiss, love, death?
Chiha’s film is deeply romantic. At the center of the eternal party is the event that May and John wait in vain for, the eponymous animal in the jungle. The adventure that John promises the woman is nothing more than the passing of years. For John and May, time is preserved while it continues outside: Mitterrand is elected, AIDS kills, the Berlin Wall falls, then the Twin Towers in New York. Fashions, costumes, dance and music styles also change on the dance floor. The two of them increasingly become onlookers at the celebration, without daring to start living. And yet the wait was worth it. Because you can’t get enough of the magnetic elegance of Anaïs Demoustier and the dull stubbornness of Tom Mercier. Philipp Stadelmaier
Series: “Bardot” on Netflix
The hunted: Brigitte Bardot.
(Photo: Caroline Dubois – FTV – Federation)
Anyone who believes that fame has only degenerated into an ambiguous affair in the age of cell phone cameras and the spread of rumors on the Internet should refresh their memories about Brigitte Bardot: in the French series “Bardot” (played brilliantly by Julia de Nunez), which is now on Netflix is running, you see the genesis of a sex symbol, various suicide attempts and how her assistant photographs everything and sells it to the tabloids, while legions of paparazzi try to break into the house – such messes also happened in the age of analogue media. The series that has the charm of a glossy report Paris Match including the invention of Saint-Tropez, ends in the mid-sixties, long before its (now revoked) political shift to the right. So you can sympathize to your heart’s content and in the end you even understand why she prefers animals to people. Susan Vahabzadeh
Jazz Podcast: Pablo Held Investigates
Hero takes his time, and when he says something, he has something to say.
(Photo: Spotify)
The pianist Pablo Held has long been one of the most creative in the top league of jazz. All of his albums are recommended here, for example his most recent “Buyonacy”, on which he and his band transform the “Star Wars” melody into a modern masterpiece. He also runs a podcast called “Pablo Held Investigates” (everywhere there are podcasts) in which he talks to other greats about music. And because he does it at eye level, you learn a lot about playing jazz from people like Teri Lynne Carrington, Dave Holland and Maria Schneider that would otherwise remain hidden. Held takes his time, doesn’t push, listens and always has something to say himself. The conversation about patience that he has with legendary bassist Buster Williams in a recent episode alone is a deep dive into the philosophy of jazz. Andrian Kreye
Classical: The Schumann Quartet with music from 1923
The Schumann Quartet in a new formation.
(Photo: Berlin Classics)
It can hardly be wilder, more ecstatic, but also more sarcastic and snappy than on this CD by the famous Schumann Quartet, which collects compositions from 1923. The formation has survived its reformation well, instead of Liisa Randalu, who is fascinating with her phrasing suppleness, tonal elegance and light-footedness, who is now solo viola in the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, Veit Hertenstein gives the brother ensemble – Erik and Ken, violins, Mark Schumann, cello – a harsher viola tone. a touch of darker seriousness, without losing the special Schumann qualities of liveliness, freshness and illuminating playfulness.
It is almost unbelievable that Leoš Janáček’s passionate first string quartet, called the “Kreutzer Sonata”, sits alongside Paul Hindemith’s hearty six-part parody “Minimax – Repertory for Military Music”, Erwin Schulhoff’s fast-paced, modern “Five Pieces for String Quartet” alongside Alban Berg’s wistful confessional music from his String Quartet op .3 appear. These composer personalities are too opposite and different. And yet there is a common denominator: the year it was founded in 1923, in which the Weimar Republic was rocked by hyperinflation, Hitler’s putsch and other political events. But at the same time there was a creative explosion in all arts.
The Schumanns’ impressive creative flexibility ensures that each of these distinctive pieces achieves its musical right and its specific character. So Janáček’s 1st String Quartet sounds not only effervescently furious, but also rhythmically unmistakably articulated. Hindemith’s military music jokes are so cheeky for the Schumanns and so precise in what seems to be the wrong thing that it’s a pleasure. The four offer Berg’s op. probably written for his composition teacher Nadia Boulanger, the ensemble unfolds as a relaxed and lively quartet movement. Harald Eggebrecht
Theater book: “Contemporary Gorki”
You fall in love again every few pages: “Contemporary Gorky: Interjections”.
(Photo: Verlag Theater der Zeit)
Berlin’s Maxim Gorki Theater is in many respects the most exciting theater in the city, at least – and not just because it receives insults from the AfD like other theaters receive theater awards. A magnificent book was published at the end of last season, documenting the first ten years of Shermin Langhoff’s directorship with many stories from inside the theater. The theater may have little money, but it has a lot of fighting spirit and an ensemble with a remarkably high number of stars. With its post-migrant artists, it was a benchmark pioneer from the start. And with its anarchic folk theater, the Gorki demonstrates that theater also works excellently as a zone that is guaranteed to be free of conceit from educated people. No wonder that when you leaf through it, you fall in love with Gorki again every few pages (publisher Theater der Zeit). Peter Laudenbach