 What to Do in Case of Fire? (2002) Directed by Gregor Schnitzler The heart of the film is not the anarchy element, though—it's really more about what happens to the ideals of youth when real life takes over. Punkgirls become soccer moms; anarchists become corporate attorneys; it happens all the time, just take a look in the mirror. Or I will, at least: underground writers become editors. Yuck. The cool thing about the film is that it does not draw the obvious conclusion that "selling out" is tantamount to selling your soul—that subversion and protest can also be effected from within the system, and that sticking to one's principles can often be simply staying stuck in the past. As long as you're not fooling yourself about what you think you're all about—and as long as you're truly living it. Visually, the film is awesome, probably the best-shot movie I've seen in the past 10 years. Nearly every frame is intriguing and purposeful, and even when the content gets a bit trite, the film is completely engaging to watch. The ensemble cast is excellent, the dialogue is smart, the music is almost entirely good (although there is one cheesy-ass ballad that crops up, rendering a "Hugh Grant movie" vibe about two-thirds of the way through). In particular I liked the Clash-like punk rock sung in German. The film this most reminded me of was Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, in terms of being a slick caper comedy, but for emotional resonance, it recalled Mike Leigh's wonderful Career Girls. I am always on board when a movie dissects the contrast between present and past, particularly when the characters were once highly principled, or alternately, have become so. And there's even a bit of Sid & Nancy grime to it as well—just enough, fortunately. What to Do in Case of Fire was not as brilliant as I wanted it to be, but then again, the same can be said about my whole life. Perhaps the sticking point is that the film reminded me of this fact.
Review by La Fée |