(2005; 93 min. USA)
"Rainer Maria Rilke’s “Requiem for a Friend” is the foundation for this
marvelous production of mature emotion and deep wisdom; few films
have
been able to
explore the issues surrounding death with such
grace and intelligence." Phil Hall, filmthreat.com (5 stars)
NO SCREENINGS SCHEDULED AT THIS TIME
Click this to purchase the DVD.
LLOYD BRICKEN as "Rainer Maria Rilke"
1908, Paris. Over three fever-dream nights in the Hotel Biron,
poet
Rainer Maria Rilke encounters the ghost of his good friend,
artist
Paula Modersohn-Becker,
who died shortly
after giving birth to her
first child. In response to this haunting, Rilke writes his epic prose
lament,
"Requiem for a Friend", as a tribute to Paula and to all
women
torn between a life sacrificed to Art or to Motherhood.
.
SYLVI ALLI as "the Artist", (painter)
FELECIA FAULKNER as "the Mother", (actress)
and LEAH KAHN as "the Soul Torn Between" (dancer)
One hundred years later, three women - a painter, an actress
and a dancer -
and a theatre director
prepare to stage
Rilke's
"Requiem"
in Berkeley
California
as an avant garde production.
(this performance was staged and filmed before a live audience)
LEE VOGT as "The Director"; LLOYD BRICKEN as "The Critic "
The director's real life becomes mysteriously
entangled
in the
metaphors of Rilke's prose
when a
young Rilke-obsessed
drama
critic
insists on penning a story
about their upcoming performance. As past
and
future plots entwine and
unfold, the heart
of
Rilke's
melancholic,
searing vision of love and loss gives way to unexpected revelation.
LLOYD BRICKEN as "Rainer Maria Rilke"
Oh don’t take from me what I am slowly learning. I’m sure you have
gone astray
if you are moved to homesickness for anything in this dimension.
We transform
these Things; they aren’t real, they are only the reflections
upon the
polished surface of our being. -- from "REQUIEM FOR A FRIEND".
watch a clip, credits, a Jungian review of this film
"In 'The Greater Circulation' we are enchanted and indeed
haunted, not only by the profound trajectory of Rilke's life
and work, but also by Alli's ability to tell stories within stories,
to make the invisible visible, and to bring to earth what
can only be truly grasped through spiritual vision."
from the Film Review by Cedrus Monte
SYLVI ALLI, LEAH KAHN and FELECIA FAULKNER
VERTICAL POOL and PARATHEATRICAL RESEARCH present an ANTERO ALLI film
"THE GREATER CIRCULATION ". LLOYD BRICKEN, FELECIA FAULKNER, SYLVI ALLI,
LEE VOGT, LEAH KAHN, SLOBODAN PAITCH, ANTERO ALLI as the voice of Rilke.
"Requiem For a Friend" written by RAINER MARIA RILKE. Translation by
STEPHEN MITCHELL. Screenplay by ANTERO ALLI.
SLOBODAN PAITCH as "Rodin" and LLOYD BRICKEN as "Rilke"
Director of Photography, CHRIS RASMUSSEN. Second Unit D.P., SEAN BLOSL.
Sound Recorder, MALCOLM SHERWOOD. Edited by CHRIS ODELL and ANTERO ALLI.
C.G.I. Effects by MICHAEL McWHIRTER. Music by SCRIABIN, BRAHMS, LOOP!STATION,
AMBER ASYLUM, and SYLVI ALLI. Associate Producers: LILY NOVA, FELECIA FAULKNER,
and CHRIS RASMUSSEN. Producers: JODIE EVANS, SYLVI ALLI, and ANTERO ALLI.
Executive Producers, VERTICAL POOL PRODUCTIONS, PARATHEATRICAL RESEARCH
Conceived and directed by ANTERO ALLI
about the filmmaker
"I have been living with Rilke's epic lament,"REQUIEM FOR A FRIEND", since 1990 and this film celebrates the fruition of my efforts to give it visual and theatrical expression. The final twenty minutes of this film features a live paratheatre performance of REQUIEM that I directed and filmed in May of 2005." - ANTERO ALLI, director
ANTERO ALLI (b. 11/11/1952) is a Finnish born, Berkeley-based underground filmmaker whose feature-length art films have garner critical praise at the prestigious filmthreat.com and which screen in rare, limited runs on the west coast arthouse circuit. Alli is the founder/director of ParaTheatrical ReSearch (since 1977), an ongoing exploration of asocial group ritual dynamics that often informs and inspires his films.
Director's Project Journal
Preproduction observations and notes
Director's Notes and This Film's Screening History
Filmography and Vision Statement
Clips, reviews, interviews, stills, influences
Click this for more on Rilke and Modersohn-Becker
VERTICAL POOL PRODUCTIONS
P.O. BOX 10144, BERKELEY, CA 94709 USA
info@verticalpool.com --
voicemail: (510) 464-4640
