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Reviews
Sibak (1994)
Callboy Melodrama
A refreshingly honest look at the life of 'gay for pay' hustlers in working class Manila. It's a tad melodramatic but entertaining - and rather erotic too.
Querelle (1982)
Flawed Masterpiece
Fassbinder's last film is based on what would seem to be an unfilmable 'Querelle de Brest' by Jean Genet, and Genet's only film 'Un Chant D'Amour' must certainly have provided some inspiration for the symbolism of this movie. It looks wonderful: lush orange sunsets, sailors, workmen, prostitutes, policemen, phallic imagery. The ever wonderful Brad Davis is stunning as the amoral, beautiful sailor. The plot and the dialogue are patchy and enigmatic - confusing at times, like a dream, bizarre at times, like a fantasy - but the sumptuousness of the whole spectacle carries the viewer along and the film contains some of the most erotic scenes in cinema. The music by Peer Raben is mesmerising and haunting. Although a difficult and flawed film, losing its way somewhat in the meandering plot, it is undoubtedly a landmark in modern cinema. Apparently Fassbinder made a more explicit cut of this movie. Now that would make a great DVD release...