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David O'Connell
Mountain FogLulu and Jimi @ the Festival of German Films
April 28th 2009 22:11
David O'Connell is a guest writer on 20/20 Filmsight, and has his own excellent movie review site at Screen Fanatic.
When a young man and woman meet at a fairground in late 1950’s Germany, an instant chemical reaction occurs. Though an unlikely pairing, local girl Lulu (Jennifer Decker), and black American Jimi (Ray Fearon) are lovestruck at first glance, setting in motion a rollercoaster ride through an enchanted, Technicolor-soaked world, vividly brought to life by writer/director Oskar Roehler. Shifting tones frequently and saturating his frame with flowery, stylistic excesses, Roehler has conjured a defiantly non-naturalistic wonderland that does its utmost best to defy categorisation.
Lulu lives under the reign of her hilariously one-dimensional, evil mother Gertrud (Katrin Sass) who’s horrified to learn her daughter is showing even faint interest in a black man, considered the scourge of humanity; in fact everyone in town feels similarly, and they become outraged by Lulu's undercover nocturnal exploits. Dumping the man her mother has chosen for her, Lulu finds ways of sneaking out to the fairground again to meet Jimi who has a job there and seems to compel her towards him with a virulent, exotic magnetism. Their illicit union and the measures they take to see one another play out like a dark fable with Lulu cast as the beautiful princess held captive in a dungeon beneath the lidless gaze of her evil witch of a mother - whose only affection seems reserved for her pink-dyed poodle!
Eventually the pair is forced on the run when Jimi is confronted by Lulu’s brother, brandishing a switchblade, at a party. The violent altercation leaves the brother in a wheelchair with horrible injuries and they flee into a disapproving world after Lulu’s favourable testimony allows Jimi to avoid incarceration. The relentless Gertrude releases the hounds however and in a development reminiscent of David Lynch’s Wild at Heart, she reveals a bloody single-mindedness to retrieve her daughter and destroy the man whose claimed her heart. Her minions - only too willing to carry out her orders - include her driver and loveless bed-partner, Schultz (Udo Kier), who has usurped her husband in the household’s hierarchy; Lulu’s father is now a dotty old bohemian mute who, in a horrifying flashback, is seen performing an act of self-mutilation at the behest of his glacial, contemptible wife, evil incarnate if ever there was.
Roehler’s film is an oddity, a garish fairytale immersed in streams of primary colours, pulsing with a rock ‘n’ roll vibe and wailing sax underscore. There’s a powerful motion of hyper-reality established early on amidst the nostalgic sprinklings of a long-gone era; one, however, that doesn’t preclude venturing down a dark cul-de-sac with some regularity as Jimi encounters a pervasive racism that threatens to separate the pair and bring end to their seemingly doomed quest.
Cohesion and logic are left far behind and though the bizarrely shifting perspectives - broken up with surreal flashes and audacious moments of pure fantasy - provide a sense of disorientation, the whole thing somehow ends up an intoxicating brew. Ultimately it’s about the cosmic forces bringing together two of the most unlikely protagonists you’d ever imagine. Sharing an almost telepathic communication, they somehow survive a series of life-threatening escapades into Roehler’s flamboyant imagining of this very strange alternate universe.
Both Decker and Fearon are superb as the star-crossed lovers; Decker providing a perfect mix of strength and vulnerability beneath her, at times, gorgeous face, whilst Fearon, a British-born actor, makes Jimi effortlessly cool and alluring with a dangerous energy coiled beneath his proud and defiant exterior. As the lone black man in a determinedly white world he somehow fits in, daring all-comers to challenge his right to a place amongst them and ruthless in dispensing justice when the need arises.
Little makes sense in this peculiar film, an affectionate, full-throttle explosion towards an unknown destination with a daring originality of vision that sets it apart from the rest of the field. If its lucidity you seek, look away now, but for lovers of vividly-crafted cinematic purity, Lulu and Jimi is your antidote for a dark night ahead.
*this image is from film-forward
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