Michael König Movies

Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's unique 1930 opera The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny gets a new interpretation in this stage effort, a joint production of the Teatro Real and La Fura dels Baus. The cast includes Willard White, Jane Henschel, michael Koenig and Measha Brueggergosman; Pablo Heras-Casado conducts. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

The norms of hospital practices are turned upside-down in this complex drama about how many rights are denied patients who do not conform. At the beginning of the story, a man is found lying on the side of the road and is brought in to the police station as a probable vagrant, but he has no memory and seems to have lost his powers of speech. Perplexed and defeated by their unsuccessful attempts to make him talk, the police send the man over to the hospital for examination by psychiatrists. After some time, it becomes apparent that he understands everything going on around him and is simply refusing to talk. This sets off a series of antagonistic actions on the part of the hospital staff, suspicious about his "purpose" in remaining silent. Although some explanation is discovered as to why he is this way, the supposedly sane doctors and staff come off looking like they may need treatment themselves. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

Rosa (Christine Boisson) and Elser (Michael Koenig) get off a passenger ship on the German Baltic coast, steal a car, and then try to dodge their pursuer in a long and verbose chase across Germany. The man is in search of a new utopia, but the woman seems only interested in a good time, and apparently the couple find both objectives more or less compatible. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

This German language biographical film outlines the life of Reinhold Michael Lenz. Lenz was a German poet and playwright whose brief, rather tragic life in the last half of the 18th century seems to have followed a pattern more often associated with the German Romantic literary movement, which flowered just after his death. The writer's story is told chronologically, without using extensive flashbacks, etc., and this sober technique is typical of the work of director George Moorse. This film is notable for its exquisite cinematography by Gerard Vandenberg. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Director Rainer Werner Fassbinder uses a 15th century legend as an allegory to the political situation in late-'60s Germany in The Niklashausen Journey. Combining medieval and contemporary imagery, the story follows Hans Boehm (Michael König), a shepherd who believes the Virgin Mary wants him to start a proletarian revolution. Fassbinder appears as the rebellious instigator the Black Monk. Also starring Hanna Schygulla. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi