I don't think there is a possibility that a film titled alpha city, was going to be made outside of the 1980s. A 1980s mood piece, crime film centered around 3 characters, an american, a 'dream girl', and the gruff, scarred trouble man. They all find themselves in and out of love, but what is found between them is a sense of despair, two guys want the same girl, and they both get her, but with time changes and the personality and mentality changes, they both lose her and get her back. But, in the end, like most films surrounding a love triangle, we know that things will not end well for everyone, no film with a love triangle ends with a polygamous relationship. Eckhart schmidt's direction is glorious, the type of 1980s, neon, synth that you expect, but infused with the care for the slow-moving dramatic affections that I love in any type of genre. Schmidt's direction is focused on the glorious blocking, but also the care for the division found between these characters, sure, the characters come together in some ways but very rarely are they entirely together, through schmidt's careful use of visual storytelling. So much of this film revolves around the beauty found in empty sound use, and the wonderful use of a synthesized score to provide transitions, as we see these characters moving and growing all at once. The dialogue is infused with a great sense of naïvete from all three characters, they are all young, they are apart of a criminal world for which they don't belong, and yet the dialogue is found with them consistently growing for change. No one in this film is founded in stasis, in fact all three of them are found plagued by the result of imprisonment, whether emotionally, mentally, or physically. The dialogue is wonderfully subtle, that is focused on real human conversations with real characters, this could be a film that has a certain heightened sensibility, but schmidt never opts for that and it is glorious. The performances are found in that same sort of naïve register, these are performances that showcase these characters never completely believed in their own values, they don't know what they want and it is presented perfectly. They all want sex and they all want love, but they want it in entirely different ways than they think they do. This is the type of weird, provocative cinema I love, the ones where nudity is just a casual thing, not some crazy entity that destroys everything in its path. It relies on a great score, but the dialogue is always presented with the presence of music, and the performances are allowed to be displayed, with a careful use of editing which includes shot-reverse shot and long takes throughout. This is open cinema, like most slow-moving, forgotten dramas are, and odd case in which the cinema in which nobody has seen or particular cares for, is always the cinema i tend to love. It is a big indictment on the hollywood system, that a forgotten german film from 1985 is more present, open, beautifully acted, gorgeously shot, subtly directed, and better written in its subtle dialogue than any film in theaters in the past year.
Review of Alpha City
