The 57th Chicago International Film Festival runs from October 13th to the 24th. Films will be shown at the AMC River East 21, the Music Box Theater, the Gene Siskel Film Center and the Chi-Town Movies Drive-In. Complete schedule and information is here.
Erich Kästner’s 1932 novel, Fabian. Die Geschichte Eines Moralisten is translated as both Fabian, The Story of a Moralist and Going to the Dogs: The Story of a Moralist. Kästner was equally renowned for his poetry and children’s books, but Fabian was a very adult chronicle of one man’s experiences in post-WWI Weimar Berlin. Its depiction of young writer Jakob Fabian, his indulgent friend Stephan Labude, and Berlin’s dual transformation into an artistic and intellectual hub that also fostered crime, decadence, runaway inflation, radical nationalism and the rise of Hitler and the National Socialists made for thrilling reading. But, of course, once the Nazis took power, it was instantly banned.
Kästner’s novel made a point to emulate the narrative (montage) rhythms of film at the time: stark transitions between episodes, accumulated character details rather than straightforward descriptions, and overlapping events complimenting, and contrasting against, each other. Veteran German filmmaker Dominik Graf, in his long but rewarding Fabian: Going to the Dogs (Fabian Oder Der Gang Vor Die Hunde) (Germany, 2021) pays a bit of homage to Kästner’s original intention early on, but he’s canny about how much of that style is already inherent in filmed storytelling, and doesn’t overdo the affectations. An opening visual transition from present-day-to-1931 is nicely done, and he throws in some split-screen and multiple frame arrays to perk up the visual rhythm in the early going, but he levels out visually from then on. Aspiring writer Jakob Fabian (Tom Schilling) writes advertising copy for a cigarette company, lives in a modest boarding house, and spends his money drinking, clubbing and assessing the moral diminution of what is otherwise a culture of creative promise. Often hooking up with his wealthier friend Stephan Labude (Albrecht Schuch), a hard-partying idealist awaiting word on his university thesis on Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Fabian makes friends with a Fellini-esque variety of characters, notably cabaret-performer-and-nymphomaniac Irene Moll (Meret Becker), whose husband needs Jakob to sign a contract before allowing him to screw his wife (Jakob diplomatically refuses), and, providentially, Cornelia Battenberg (Saskia Rosendahl), a law student who wants to practice in the burgeoning film industry, but is also being wooed by Makart (Aljoscha Stadelmann), a powerful producer, to try her hand at acting. Jakob and Cornelia hit it off quickly, discovering that they both live in the same boarding house, and their ardent carnal chemistry undeniably delights them both. But Cornelia is as self-protecting in her way as Jakob, and she peels away from the risk of true love for the practicality of her arranged film career with her wealthy wannabe Svengali. Labude, meanwhile, becomes a victim of the opportunistic and degraded academia he’s depending on for validation. The forces that discourage the progressively jaded Jakob are apparent, but this is a guy who also gets along famously with his visiting mother (Petra Kalkutschke) and springs for dinner with homeless war veterans.
I thought this was a terrific film, even at three hours long. Its variety of internal narrative rhythms and moral unpredictability reminded me of Bertrand Bonello’s work. Graf gets marvelous, heartbreaking performances from his leads, and editor Claudia Wolscht works wonders with Graf’s narrative manipulations and Hanno Lentz’ rich and efficient cinematography.
Fabian: Going to the Dogs was shown on Saturday, October 23rd at 4:45 pm at the AMC River East 21.
Periscope In The Bathtub 