Still, it wasn't all for nothing, because I saw a lot of good films and documentaries so far. The day before yesterday, for instance, I finally got the chance to see a movie I was really craving for and it was amazing for me. I am, clearly, talking about Mad Heidi.
I don't know whether or not I'm going too far but I'll go ahead and claim that there's no other children's books as influential and internationally well-known, as iconic as Johanna Spyri's Heidi books (Yes, it's probably some US or UK author in reality because it always is, but I'll allege this anyway. On the other hand, why should you believe me? I also said summer in Berlin was fun and we know how that turned out.) and the corresponding anime Heidi, Girl of the Alps, along with countless films based on the popular Bildungsroman.
The latest annexation to the Heidi legend, Mad Heidi, is indeed also a kind of Bildungsroman, an origin story for one of the most badass Swiss heroines, who, after the execution of her boyfriend Goat Peter and her subsequent arrest by the cheese monopolist totalitarian government vows to take revenge. There's lots of steps in Heidi's path, she will need to endure a lot of pain, humiliation, cheese meals, arena fights and torment, but she will finally undergo the astonishing transformation she needs to realize her plan. On her side are, of course, her grandfather Alpöhi, Helvetia and her fellow inmate K(a)lara (who is of Japanese descent in this interpretation); on the opposite side a perverted Swiss president Meili and the machinery of a whole cheese-obsessed state in war against lactose intolerance: Fräulein Rottweiler as prison guard, Kommandant Knorr as the head of army and Dr. Schwitzgebel conducting depraved medical experiments in the name of the state.
Let's get it over with the mini critique I have first, so we can concentrate on the good parts - Apart from a few scenes in which the film tries a little too hard to come across trashy, an endearing flaw I can gladly turn a blind eye on, Mad Heidi was a blast to watch, a blast for anyone enjoying trash movies and aware this is an exploitation film, a fun romp of a movie, nothing more, but nothing less either. It drags a little in the middle due to repetitions in prison scenes, but that's about it.
What I absolutely loved;
The humor, of course! I smiled throughout the whole movie - from Goat Peter as a contraband cheese smuggler to Klara's own origin story to the portrayal of Alpöhi as an old hippie to the over-the-top evil of the president to the absolutely hilarious German words scattered around, the latter being only one part of something bigger, of the swisploitation aspect. There were many occasions for a guffaw here.
The casting was on the spot! Especially the baddies, Casper van Dien as President Meili, Katja Kolm as Fräulein Rottweiler, Pascal Ulli in the role of Doktor Schwitzgebel but also Alpöhi David Schofield and Goat Peter Kel Matsena - all of them were so extremely, spot-on stereotypical that it just added to the laughter.
Considering this was a crowdfunded indie movie without the support of any studio, it was incredibly high quality. The costumes, especially the battle costumes, the details, the integration of weapons into the costumes was nothing short of amazing. Let's not forget the camera works, the overall visual style, the colors, the nature scenes, I don't even know where to stop, such a great job was done here.
Connected to the point that this movie has been crowdfunded, there are lots of fun facts hidden in here; one of them being the patrons who donated for the film were allegedly given an extra role in the movie and were allowed to be killed by Heidi, lol. As a fan of indie work, there is one point I personally like paying attention to in these movies (because I like to see the creative solutions filmmakers come up with) and that is how crowds, like in a fighting arena, are put together or presented. To date my highlights are the crowd being just hand-drawn, collected from the street or shamelessly cut out of a football game and edited into the movie and it's just a little kink of mine to observe that in movies. Allow me to say - I was hugely amused by the crowd egging first Heidi's opponent and then Heidi herself on during the arena fights. They were laughing and grinning like they were aware of the absurdity of their situation and they looked like they were having a lot of fun, probably someone cheered them on. While watching the movie I thought that they're probably friends and families of the filmmakers but I later read that the so-called "mad-investors" were among them too. Pure love for film which shines through.
My final reason to recommend this movie: the NEUTRAL-IZER. Please go see for yourself.
Mad Heidi was a wonderful film experience and I thank the Mad Investors and a film company for making this project possible. The best part is that there is a sequel: Heidi and Klara!
A little info on the cinema I saw Mad Heidi in; the hofkino is the open-air version of the ladenkino (both run under the bigger brand B-Ware) which is an independent cinema in Friedichshain consisting of a couple of couches and chairs in the back of a DVD shop. What I wasn't aware of is that hofkino is a so-called "Kopfhörerkino", a headphone cinema, because it's quite central and they didn't want to disturb neighbors. So we, the audience, sat there in our beach chairs with our headphones and everyone could turn up or down the volume the way they want and beside the cause being adorable, I actually really liked watching a movie like this. I assume people with attention issues or hearing problems would appreciate the solution too. It is the first time I visited such a cinema and I love having new experiences like this. They have blankets too, so if you don't mind the weather, please go support!
Finally, there is a tradition which I do with a horror friend of mine once or twice a year; we go to Dussmann and go through all their movie selection, and usually buy a movie or two, which we sometimes exchange later. Last weekend we met again to clear Dussmann shelves and as I decided to complete my program from home mostly, I bought some movies. One of those has a black SPIO/JK warning label on the cover which I saw for the first time in my life and my friend told me that this is a higher level warning which exceeds the conventionally highest 18+. He said he's surprised they sell these in a shop at all because some of them are barely legal? Well if they sell it, I'll buy it, right? My curiosity piqued, I want to watch this all the more now, so I took it with me. The Sadness, a Taiwanese film from 2021, let's see how that goes!
Below pictured is my shortlist, and my final haul was The Sadness and the Hospital Box featuring nine hospital horror movies. Evil (2007) is based on one of horror literature's hardest to read books, The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum, which in turn is based on the true story of 16-year-old Sylvia Likens, an orphaned girl who was tortured and mistreated first by her aunt who took her custody and later incarcerated in the cellar and given free access to be tortured by the boys living on the street. She didn't survive the ordeal.
I already streamed Evil Dead Rise (2022) and it was a fun movie, I liked! As the cool aunt to my niece and nephews I approve very much of the depiction of us the way this movie does, like doing fun stuff with them and not torturing them in cellars.
I still very much want to watch Uncle Peckerhead - Roadie from Hell (2020) but really need to watch my budget a little, so that one goes on the list for next time.
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