Freunde, das Leben ist lebenswert...

Forty years ago today, the first episode of Fassbinder's magnum opus Berlin Alexanderplatz first aired on German television, and it is my intention to watch every single episode on its 40th anniversary - a project that will keep going until December 29th. This review will get updated after every episode.

The first episode, aptly titled The Punishment Begins, opens with our main character's release from prison, where he served a four-year sentence for manslaughter. Franz…

In an alternate universe, it is this film, and not Citizen Kane, that is hailed as the crown jewel in Orson Welles' body of work.

And sure, the version we have in this universe is only a fragment of what it was intended to be, and we can only imagine how sweeping and grand a masterpiece it would be if it was intact - but then again, what is the Colosseum in Rome but a fragment of what it used…

That opening was gruelling, and it was, frankly, unnecessary. It is very well possible to make a film about the trauma of a miscarriage without actually spending this much of your runtime on showing the actual miscarriage - it feels exploitative, and cheapens the film. It's as if Manchester by the Sea began with a 20-minute scene that makes us witness the death of Casey Affleck's and Michelle Williams children in a blazing fire.

The film should have trusted its…