OVP: Never Look Away (2018)

Film: Never Look Away (2018)
Stars: Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer, Saskia Rosendahl, Ina Weisse
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Foreign Language Film-Germany, Cinematography)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

The concept of the giant epic film has seemingly gone out of vogue in recent years.  Surprisingly since Titanic and The Lord of the Rings, the idea of a movie lasting three hours or more has become less fashionable, with audiences more attuned to animated features and comic book movies at the top of the box office (though if rumors are to be believed, the fourth Avengers movie will be hitting the three-hour mark, so perhaps the tides are turning).  This is admittedly a good thing for me with the OVP, as it means that I'm not stuck for hours on end watching a movie I despise (cough Toni Erdmann cough) but it also means that stories like Never Look Away, an engrossing picture inspired by the life of Gerhard Richter, don't get told, which is a damned shame because Never Look Away might have the scope of 3-hour picture, but rarely feels like one.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film centers around Kurt Barnert (Schilling), a young, artistic boy who is enamored with his Aunt Elisabeth (Rosendahl).  We watch as Kurt grows up in Germany during the reign of Hitler, with his Aunt Elisabeth eventually taken to a hospital and sentenced to death for her mental illness (it is implied she suffers from schizophrenia).  The man who sentences her to death is Carl Seeband (Koch), a devout Nazi who after the war manages to avoid trial after he saves the wife & child of a Russian officer during a difficult birth.  A skilled doctor, he quickly recovers & stays at the top of his social circle, but never realizes that a now adult Kurt is dating his daughter Ellie (Beer).  When Ellie becomes pregnant, Seeband, obsessed with genetics and his own supremacy, refuses to allow his offspring to carry the same genes as Barnert, and tricks them into getting an abortion, which gives Ellie fertility problems.  Despite the abortion, which Seeband intends to break up the couple, the two are married and remain pretty happy throughout the entire film.  The two flee to Dusseldorf halfway through the film to get out from under the Communist Regime in Eastern Germany, where Kurt had established himself as a renowned painter of propaganda.

It's here where arguably Never Look Away has its best run, though considering its size it's worth acknowledging it never feels long (there were no secret glances at my watch to check the time).  I genuinely liked all of the film, though it's clear that Schilling is playing Kurt less as a knowable character and more as someone who has no concept of who he is unless he's in front of a canvass, and even though it's more discovery than revelation.  This is perhaps a nod to the "semi" part of the autobiographical nature of the film, which is an ode to Richter but one without his name, and certainly without his blessing (Richter called the film an "abuse and grossly distorting").  In Dusseldorf, finally freed from familial strife and given full ability to express himself, Schilling must acknowledge he has no idea what he wants to do with his artistic gifts, and watching him try, imitate, and then ultimately acknowledge the hardship of his life to create something spellbinding (photorealist paintings of the earlier scenes of the movie), is wonderful.

The movie itself is pretty conventional and was a bit mocked as such when it came to a lineup of critically-lauded Foreign Language Film nominees this year (many would have preferred Burning compared to this picture), but I think they're wrong-Never Look Away is an engrossing, admittedly traditional but still passionate look at a single life and the art that influenced it.  I certainly don't think it's the worst of an admittedly strong field of movies, and am excited to see such a long film feel so thick with essential plot.

The movie's second nomination was for cinematography, likely due in large part to Caleb Deschanel's position behind the camera.  I'd imagine after the sheer joy of watching their branch get so recognized last year by the mass audience when they finally gave Roger Deakins an Oscar, the Cinematography Branch seems inclined now to invite the next long-neglected cinematographer on their list Deschanel (who is 0/6 after this past Sunday's Oscars) to the club until he wins.  Deschanel has a more conventional approach to the screen than Deakins, but there are moments of light and intrigue in this film, particularly during the, well, sex scenes.  Deschanel seems utterly fascinated with the posteriors of the two leads, and romantically lights them in a way that would have felt more at home in the 90's, but considering the other homages the film is making to that era in its length and epic scope, this feels quite appropriate.  I suspect Deschanel would prefer for us to focus on the grand reveal scene of the photorealist paintings, but inarguably the most fascinating (from a cinematic perspective) moments in his work here are during the love-making scenes between Schilling and Beer.  This makes the Academy's decision to nominate him a slightly pervy choice, but considering that these two nominations led me to such an engrossing film, I'll let it slide.