Writing my first review here on imdb - precisely because I found this film beautiful and deeply poetic (or poetically profound), while suspecting that many of the reviews here would miss the more subtle points which the writer/ director Ulrich Seidl is making.
Comparisons to Mickey Rourke's "The Wrestler" are obvious and deserved, but they do not detract from the excellent portrayal of the protagonist by Michael Thomas. The crude depictions of sex are not comedic - they are unapologetic and vital to the film's construction of the protagonist's reality, which is vulgar yet also full of pathos (in their depiction of the women's needs and the exchanges of money and desire, for example).
Visually, the film is an enormous pleasure on a big screen. The postcard-like framing of Rimini beachfront landscapes and tacky neon-lit hotel lounges follows more in the tradition of Japanese directors like Ozu - and calmly draws the viewer into the decaying (but intermittently still warm, and pleasurable) reality of old Schlager star Richie Bravo.
The plot is simple indeed - one would expect viewers accustomed to Hollywood roller-coaster rides to be quickly bored or even offended. But numerous details in the film point to much more serious Intentions, with the plot twists at the end making explicit what the director might really be getting at.
Rimini is a site where pensioners and tourists from the cold, prosperous, aging German-speaking nations go on vacation. Yet every frame of the beaches shows miserable African immigrants (probably illegal and unable to secure residence) huddled up or sitting on the ground aimlessly. The seemingly absurd (but not entirely implausible) invasion of Arab refugees (?) at the end turns Richie into a metaphor for the decaying wealth and insularity of Western Europe, cruising into its twilight on past glories, while a new reality (embodied by the daughter's boyfriend but also their shared agenda) is clearly taking over.
The role of music and its artificial construct of joy and longing plays a role too, crystallized by the demented father singing Nazi-Era choruses, in contrast to the pure escapism into the exotic fantasies (Amore Mio, Winnetou) which are Richie's repertoire. Without any explicit confrontation necessary, the contrast of these musical styles also hints at the psychological relationship (but also commonality) between father and son.
I very much enjoyed this film, and although many other films "on the market" offer more gasps or fireworks, the intelligent, sympathetic, subtle, and nonetheless surprising twists in "Rimini" were both persuasive and seductive. It offers an uncommon view into a highly plausible life lived. The casting, by the way, is excellent - the kind where one can hardly believe that these people are portraying anything other than their selves in the real world.
This film will not please viewers at glitzy shopping malls in suburban USA.. it could charm literate viewers who understand the geography of Europe and the lIves of ordinary people living there. (I have lived in Germany for 20 years now. )
Comparisons to Mickey Rourke's "The Wrestler" are obvious and deserved, but they do not detract from the excellent portrayal of the protagonist by Michael Thomas. The crude depictions of sex are not comedic - they are unapologetic and vital to the film's construction of the protagonist's reality, which is vulgar yet also full of pathos (in their depiction of the women's needs and the exchanges of money and desire, for example).
Visually, the film is an enormous pleasure on a big screen. The postcard-like framing of Rimini beachfront landscapes and tacky neon-lit hotel lounges follows more in the tradition of Japanese directors like Ozu - and calmly draws the viewer into the decaying (but intermittently still warm, and pleasurable) reality of old Schlager star Richie Bravo.
The plot is simple indeed - one would expect viewers accustomed to Hollywood roller-coaster rides to be quickly bored or even offended. But numerous details in the film point to much more serious Intentions, with the plot twists at the end making explicit what the director might really be getting at.
Rimini is a site where pensioners and tourists from the cold, prosperous, aging German-speaking nations go on vacation. Yet every frame of the beaches shows miserable African immigrants (probably illegal and unable to secure residence) huddled up or sitting on the ground aimlessly. The seemingly absurd (but not entirely implausible) invasion of Arab refugees (?) at the end turns Richie into a metaphor for the decaying wealth and insularity of Western Europe, cruising into its twilight on past glories, while a new reality (embodied by the daughter's boyfriend but also their shared agenda) is clearly taking over.
The role of music and its artificial construct of joy and longing plays a role too, crystallized by the demented father singing Nazi-Era choruses, in contrast to the pure escapism into the exotic fantasies (Amore Mio, Winnetou) which are Richie's repertoire. Without any explicit confrontation necessary, the contrast of these musical styles also hints at the psychological relationship (but also commonality) between father and son.
I very much enjoyed this film, and although many other films "on the market" offer more gasps or fireworks, the intelligent, sympathetic, subtle, and nonetheless surprising twists in "Rimini" were both persuasive and seductive. It offers an uncommon view into a highly plausible life lived. The casting, by the way, is excellent - the kind where one can hardly believe that these people are portraying anything other than their selves in the real world.
This film will not please viewers at glitzy shopping malls in suburban USA.. it could charm literate viewers who understand the geography of Europe and the lIves of ordinary people living there. (I have lived in Germany for 20 years now. )