AUFDRUCK/LABEL (2014)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on July 7, 2015 @ tonymacklin.net.

Cinema is an international language.

I've received warm reactions from Scandinavian listeners about my interview with screenplay writer Leigh Brackett.

And, of course, Londoners welcomed my interview with Hitch. They even included it in a DVD.

I've been fairly accessible to makers of indie films, who contact me. The downside of that is that they often are disappointed that the reviews don't have greater praise.

But I'm open to the underdog.

One reason probably is that my reputation is subterranean. I'm not even a "top critic." Altman said I was. Capra did, too. Gena Rowlands did. And Duke Wayne. But what did they know?

In 2015, almost everybody is a filmmaker in some way. Or at least, a critic. And everybody's a teacher.

Everybody has a voice, but that doesn't mean everybody has much to say.

I've never reviewed a short film - except for the winner of the Flicker Alley film series, for the long-defunct Dayton Journal Herald.

All of the above is prelude to the following review of a German indie short film, AUFDRUCK / LABEL.

LABEL was written and directed by Jaschar L (no period) Marktanner. [No period - is Marktanner a fan of ee cummings or just pretentious?]

LABEL is one of those films that demand you get on its wavelength. Otherwise, it probably will seem pointless.

It wouldn't have been made without Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes (2003).

But it works on its own.

Two young women (Mary Krasnoperova and Kira Mathis) sit at a table in some establishment and drink coffee, smoke cigarettes, and talk.

It might be difficult to endure them for more than 4 minutes - but the film is 3:58.

The women are basically impulsive, superficial social critics. Aren't most people, judging other people?

LABEL is a sly glance at ego and self-important pontification.

The best quality of LABEL is tone. The language and attitudes of the duo have a tinge of humor. It's barely perceptible, but the director and cast bring it off.

As abbreviated as it may be, Label has a brash, personal vision.