Lulu on the Bridge

Als absoluter Fan von Harvey Keitel und Paul Auster ("Smoke" ist einer meiner Lieblingsfilme) war "Lulu on the Bridge" natürlich ein Muss für mich. Und ich war keineswegs enttäuscht, im Gegenteil - "Lulu" ist beinahe noch besser als Smoke. Vor allem die Darsteller und die völlig überraschenden Momente der Handlung. Der Film zieht Parallelen zu Frank Wedekinds Vitalismus. Die starke Faszination, die vom Leben und von der Liebe ausgeht - und der unschätzbare Wert des Lebens an sich - ist meiner Meinung nach die Botschaft, die Paul Auster in sein brillantes Regiedebut verpackt. Ein wirklich überraschender, sehenswerter Film. Starke Bilder, starke Charaktere und ein (wie immer) fantastisch spielender Harvey Keitel. Wem Wedekinds und Austers Stil gefällt, den wird "Lulu" faszinieren - versprochen!

...even if it's mystic. if you always have to find a moral or a message in a movie, you may find this one in here. but this not what makes this movie fantastic. for me this is the quiet tone, the realistic unrealistic (dream)world, the metaphors, the profound humor and the actors.
the cast of character is great:
Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino, Gina Gershon, Sophie Auster, Vanessa Redgrave, Willem Dafoe & Lou Reed (as not lou reed;). exspecially harvey keitel & Mira Sorvino are 'extraordinary' good.
the movie refers to Frank Wedekinds drama 'Die Büchse der Pandora' which the man from izzys ex wife wants to film new with the title: lulu on the bridge. as auster names his movie the same way, you can hint that he indirectly refers to that drama to. but you can enjoy the film without knowing the drama.
like any other stuff from auster the movie works on more than one level. theres the dream that pretends to be reality - by the way: there's no reality in movies, it's always fiction, even if it pretends to be realistic or/and authentic. auster is playing with this 'knowledge'. so the unrealistic breaks into realty, to show you: hey, this is fiction, enjoy it. besides that the movie of course tells a story about the L word, bittersweet. i don't think that the plot is confusing, in my opion it is quiet simple, if you learn from auster to watch behind the things and see the obviously hidden.

the plot (SPOILER!) - of course simplified:
jazz musician izzy gets shot on a concert. as the result of this he can no longer play his instrument, his career is over. he's hiding in his flat, not answering the phone. so his ex wife, that don't love him anymore, but still cares about him, shows up, to bring him back to life. after spending a evening dinner with her new family, on his way home, he finds a dead man in a back street. he takes the bag that lies beneath the man. there he finds two things, a phone number and a weird stone. in the night the stone is glowing blue (a naughty little beggar who things of austers earlier movies smoke/blue in the face;).
next day he calls the number he had found. it belongs to celia, a fan of izzys music. she invites him to her apartment. when he arrives there, izzy gets very angry & wants an explanation from her about the stone. of course she has none. then they both touch the stone and feeling better afterwards (mhm...what the stone might be standing for?). so the story goes, they fall in love. celia wants to be an actress, but is not very successfull yet. she tells him about an upcoming audition she's going to have for a movie: lulu on the bridge (see above). as izzy knows the producer & the director, he helps her to get the job. celia leaves to ireland, where the movie is shot. izzy wants to sell his flat & then follow her to ireland.
but before that happens, he get caught by some evil lookin men, that want the mystique stone (surprise, surprise). they lock izzy into an empty hall & and a guy named Dr. Van Horn (the names of the characters are awesome chosen) question him about his life (so we learn more about izzys past & what a man he has been). the doctor knows more about izzy than izzy himself, even things that izzy pretend to forget (so we see that this is not reality, but a dream). in the meantime celia is very upset, because she don't know what had happend to izzy. she things he might not love her any more. then one night she throws the stone into a river (...maybe because a stone is not enough to remember a beloved person...even if it's mystic - the stone & the person). later on the evil men finally found out about celia & chasing her to the bridge where she has thrown the stone into the river, now she's throwing herself after... not the end.

if you think this is a sad story, don't forget, it's just a movie, it never really happend. and if that makes you sad, you may watch a funny movie to cheer you up or better, simply fall in love. or you can search for weird looking stones. and if anybody you like asks you: what's that? you can answer: a blue glowing stone. and if the person then asks: what can it do? you can say: glowing blue of course. and we can touch it & feeling much better afterwards...
...as you may have recognized, I like the movie, so watch it, if you get the chance! for more information about the movie you can check out wikipedia!

Ein anrührender, bezaubernder Film, der ganz oben auf meiner Hitliste der 10 Lieblingsfilme steht. Ein Film, den ich gerne nicht nur in der deutschen Synchronfassung, sondern auch im Original gesehen und gehört hätte. Das Medium DVD bietet dafür die Gelegenheit, die hier ohne Not verschenkt wurde. Schade. Deshalb nur vier von fünf Sterne für diese Edition.