The following is the report of the Bullet Points that Mikael asked to write, just for the record, because I really like it and began to change my opinion of Fassbender
Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
- Actors tend to face the camera/audience, like in theater.
- Actors do not have extra movements to make the scene look more natural. ("stage business") minimum action, but lots of intended blocking.
- It's very interesting that, although it seems that actors are used as elements, no more than camera, prop or custom to tell the story, but somehow we can still feel their existence as human. I think this suggests that we don't always need Stanislavskiy's traditional acting, we can also use action, language along with all the other elements to create a different effect on audience. With saying that, I do think the performances are great in this film.
- I really like the scene where Emmi tells the other workers about a guy hitting on her on the train. It reminds me of Raymond Carver's short story - Why don't you dance? And I do think the novelist and director have things in common in aesthetics. Very restraint visual language, but also very refined.
- when characters stare right into the camera and stay still for some time, it also feels that they are staring at themselves.
- I really like it when Emmi says, "let's go to somewhere else, and by the time we come back, everybody will be different", having the camera dolly back gives the scene a sad feeling, indicating the despair.
- The first night when Emmi and Ali are together by the dining table, there is a shot from outside the dining room, it feels warm, two lonely persons find each other. By the time they are back from traveling, Ali left to the bar because Emmi doesn't like Arab food. There is a same shot echoing with the previous one, which enhances the sadness. Same thing happens with the bar owner's house and the reconciliation scene at the bar.
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