Purely Joyful Movie!

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Désirée Nosbusch stars as Simone, a teenager obsessed with pop star R (Bodo Steiger). She writes him professing her love and waits obsessively for his reply. When none comes, she travels to Munich to confront him in person. They meet and seem to hit it off, but things do not exactly go as anyone would have planned them. This is a cold, somewhat alienating film that I have to say I really enjoyed. All the performances are subdued and quietly driven, and the film pulses with a synth score by Rheingold that also stands in for R's music. It all leads to an inevitable, but still somewhat surprising brutal end.

Der Fan (1982) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Teenager Simone (Desiree Nosbusch) fantasizes about having a relationship with her favorite pop singer R (Bodo Steiger). She finally by chance ends up meeting him but their relationship takes a dangerous turn.I guess the less said about the plot of DER FAN the better it will be for those who haven't seen it. This now cult item was released to a lot of controversy and it remains somewhat shocking today and especially the twist that happens so it's best that you don't know this big spoiler so I'm certainly not going to give it away here. Is the film worthy of all the hype and controversy? I would personally say no as I think there are much better films out there that deals with someone losing their mind but there's no question that there's enough here to recommend it.I think one of the strongest things going for the film is the wonderful music score by Rheingold who manages to build a lot of dark atmosphere. I thought the score perfectly brought out the mind set of this teenage girl and I loved how it got deeper and darker as her mind began to slip. There's also some nice cinematography and some good editing that helps the film along. Director Eckhart Schmidt does a very nice job at slowly building up the slipping mind of this character. At 93- minutes the film actually feels much longer due to the slow style but for the most part I thought the director did good in making sure that it never got too boring.The performance of Nosbusch is another reason to check the film out. The actress was probably just 16 or 17-years-old when she made this film so there are going to be some who object to the full nudity that she has throughout the final portion of the film. I think attacking the film for this would be rather narrow-minded even though the actress did stir up controversy when she tried to have the film pulled on its original release, although I wonder how much of this was just hype to sell the picture. Either way, she certainly delivers a convincing performance of someone slowly losing their mind. I thought she perfectly captured the naive nature of this character and when she finally goes off the deep end, you can believe what you're seeing.i would also say that the biggest problem is that while the actress pulls off the mental state of the character, the direction really doesn't pull the psychological drama out of everything like he should have. This film falls well short of the psychological horrors of something like TAXI DRIVER. THE FAN certainly has plenty of flaws including a not-so-original story but at the end of the day the performances and the overall tone makes it worth watching.

Apparently the favourite film of Japanese cannibal killer Issei Sagawa this unusual German horror drama left me a little bit disturbed.Cute 17-year-old teenager Simone has an intense crush on a dark-haired pop singer "R".The girl believes they are meant to be together,but he doesn't reply on her love letters.As she sees him for the first time she is speechless,unable even to ask for his autograph.He notices her and reaches out to touch her.Overcome with emotion Simone faints;with that first touch R's fate is sealed.When they later make love he is cold and detached.She plans the revenge which erupts into bloody murder and cannibalism..."Trance" is a remarkable horror drama about idol obsession and dysfunctional family living in their own private hell.The climax is gruesome and haunting as Simone kills and dismembers the object of her affection in a fetishistic sequence.The climatic gory mayhem is truly unforgettable.

This is not a bad film.Its the story of hero worship gone wrong.Cool unusual mixture of horror/pop/cannibal film. A bit slow to start but you will never forget the last 30 minutes. For something unusual and thankfully totally unhollywood see it.