Percy Adlon Movies
German New Wave film director Percy Adlon is perhaps best known for his trilogy of films starring Marianne Sagebrecht: Sugarbaby (1985), Bagdad Café (1988), and Rosalie Goes Shopping (1989). With these vehicles, using scripts especially written for the unique talent of Sagebrecht, Adlon and his films' leading lady received acclaim from audiences around the world. Adlon's international stature continued to grow with the release of his later films, all of which exhibit his signature passion for innovative cinematography and quirky character studies. Light and color change with the emotions of the characters, adding an indefinable dimension to the unique settings, which are integral to all of the artist's work. These traits exemplify his artist's sensibility, refined by years of formal study. He first had a go at the theater after studying art, literature, and theater at Ludwigs-Maximilian-University in Munich, and then moved over to making television documentaries in his native land.With his literary background, it is not surprising that his first film examined the life of the great writer Marcel Proust, as told from the point-of-view of the author's housekeeper. Celeste was made in 1981, and was followed by two more films on serious subjects: Füünf letzte Tage (1982) (aka Five Last Days) was based on a true story about a young girl named Sophie Scholl, who, along with her brother, was executed for her activities in the Nazi Resistance; and Die Schaukel (1983) (aka The Swing), which presented a portrait of the German aristocracy before the first World War.
Adlon's films took a turn toward the whimsical with the making of Zuckerbaby. The story of a Rubenesque mortician's assistant (Marianne Sagebrecht) starved for love and the subway conductor (Eisi Gulp) who wins her heart was a hit as a German-language film. It was released overseas as Sugarbaby, and did well in the art houses.
Two English-language films followed, also starring the luminous Sagebrecht. Bagdad Café pictured the lives of the unusual clientele at a dusty diner in the Mojave Desert. A German tourist (Sagebrecht) stops and ends up staying on, changing her own life and the lives of everyone around her. The film became a cult classic, which put the actual diner on the pilgrimage trail for film buffs. Adlon's next film, Rosalie Goes Shopping, finds Sagebrecht living in Stuttgart, AR, where the happy housewife embraces American consumerism with her personal no-limit credit card philosophy. Salmonberries (1991) is another film about Germans living in America, this time in Alaska, where salmonberries are the main groundcover in the tundra country. There, some benevolent misfits have gathered in a community based on building the pipeline. Adlon's atmospheric film techniques and memorable characterizations by k.d. lang, Rosel Zech, and Chuck Connors make this movie one of the director's best.
Adlon worked in production on the darkly humorous Younger and Younger (1993) and Eat Your Heart Out (1997), and as a screenwriter on American Rickshaw (1992). He returned to directing in the German language with the 2000 movie Hawaiian Gardens. The film's subtitle, which refers to canine bodily functions, may best sum up the story line and philosophy of a director who has spent his career celebrating beauty in life's broken down places. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
With suspense in the De Palma tradition, this thriller from Michael Steinberg (Bodies, Rest & Motion) hinges on the killer of cheating Karen Christianson (Chelsea Field), survived by her husband Ben (William R. Moses), troubled teen daughter Ellie (Julia Stiles), and little sister Inger (Vanessa Zima). At the gated tract-house community where they live, homicide detective Boland (Michael Parks) keeps his eye on a variety of suspects -- prissy Mrs. Potter (Linda Hart), womanizing Lawson Smith (Patrick Muldoon of Starship Troopers); and au pair Lena (Swedish actress Louise Myrback in her film debut). Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julia Stiles, William R. Moses, (more)
- 1997
Christian Oliver, Pamela Segall and Laura San Giacomo star in this story about how success can drive a wedge between friendships. Daniel is a chef who shares an apartment with two of his best friends, Samantha and Peter. When Daniel gets a job on a TV cooking show, he's an overnight success, but he also has less and less time for his friends. When Daniel moves out of the apartment to move in with his new agent, Jacqueline, Samantha and Peter feel betrayed, and it takes a while for Daniel to realize the perks of his new fame are costing him his true friends. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Oliver, Laura San Giacomo, (more)
- 1993
Jonathan Younger (Donald Sutherland) runs his offbeat storage facility as if it were an odd amalgam of a nightclub for the rich and famous and a pied a terre for The Addams Family. He greets each customer and potential customer with the flair and sinister graciousness of Bela Lugosi at the door of Castle Dracula. From time to time, mysterious organ music audibly emanates from the basement. His wife (Lolita Davidovich) has the messy business of making sure that this very ordinary business pays the bills. Both of them are hoping that their son (Brendan Fraser) will come back from his pricey college studies in England and take over the business. Things take a sharp left turn when some of his customers become media celebrities, suspected of killing the man in their family. This quirky black comedy was made by the director of the sublimely zany Baghdad Cafe. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Donald Sutherland, Lolita Davidovich, (more)
Writer/director Percy Adlon's offbeat tale of the friendship between two unusual women: an East German emigre who works as a librarian in Alaska, and a taciturn pipeline worker. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- k.d. lang, Rosel Zech, (more)
- 1992
- R
Former Olympic star Mitch Gaylord heads the cast of American Tiger. Gaylord plays a squeaky-clean college student who is framed for murder. While trying to clear his name, he becomes involved with a procession of martial-arts specialists. Everything comes to a head in symbolic fashion on a football field. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- PG
Larger-than-life German actress Marianne Sagebrecht stars as Rosalie Greenspace, a German bride raising a wonderful family in Stuttgart, Arkansas who she delights in providing gift after gift of goodies that are procured by her newly acquired talent of buying via "ze vonderful credit card." The more she spends, the more clever she becomes at spending; the only problem is that she has virtually no money - the credit cards are all linked to fake names, accounts, addresses, et cetera. This spoof is a playful comment on America's consumerist frenzy. ~ All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marianne Sägebrecht, Brad Davis, (more)
This West German film is set in the California Desert. A husband-and-wife pair of Bavarian tourists become stranded when their car breaks down; after a quarrel, the wife, Marianne Sagebrecht, gathers her luggage and stalks off. She stops at the Bagdad Cafe, a fleapit truckstop run by outspoken C.C.H. Pounder, who is also having husband problems. The Cafe has become a magnet for some of truly odd character: temperamental Hispanic cook George Aguilar, tattoo artist Christine Kaufmann, and onetime Hollywood set designer Jack Palance. Despite obvious personality differences, Sagebrecht and Pounder become friends. Bagdad Cafe was later adapted into a short-lived American sitcom starring Jean Stapleton and Whoopi Goldberg. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marianne Sägebrecht, CCH Pounder, (more)
- 1985
- R
With a storyline that is stretched thin over its 87-minute running time, Zuckerbaby is about an overweight woman (Marianne Sagebrecht) who works in a mortuary, develops a crush on a married subway engineer (Eisi Gulp), and then does something about it. At first, the love-struck woman is content with just seeing the object of her infatuation. Then she seeks out the train driven by her "sugarbaby" so she will always ride on that particular subway. Next, she goes through a complex series of subterfuges to discover more about him and finds out that his wife will be out of town for a few weeks -- which in her mind, makes him "free." Eventually, she does get together with him -- but then what? ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marianne Sägebrecht, Eisi Gulp, (more)
- 1983
In this period film about the life of an aristocratic family in Munich just before World War I and the end of the aristocracy as such, there are a series of garden parties for the royalty and nobility, Christmas celebrations, an appearance by Eleanora Duse at the local theater, music recitals, and majestic ballroom dances. No strong dramatic content or major story line holds the events in a thematic scheme, but the Lautenschlag family serves as the axis around which events come and go. This fictional family unit and the story, come from the partly autobiographical novel titled The Swing, written in 1934 by Annette Kolb. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joachim Bernhard, Lena Stolze, (more)
- 1982
Sophie Scholl (Lena Stolze) and her brother were executed by the Nazis in World War II because they were members of a student anti-Nazi organization called the "White Rose." (Lena Stolze reprises her role as Scholl in the 1982 release of Die Weisse Rose.) Writer and director Percy Adlon focuses on Scholl's last five days of life in her prison cell, where she consistently refuses to recant her beliefs or compromise them in any way. Her cellmate is a woman who sympathizes with Scholl's views and admires her courage but clearly can do nothing to change her fate. Both the "White Rose" organization, and Scholl and her brother became famous in Germany after World War II. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irm Hermann, Lena Stolze, (more)
- 1982
Sophie Scholl (Lena Stolze) and her brother were executed by the Nazis in World War II because they were members of a student anti-Nazi organization called the "White Rose." (Lena Stolze reprises her role as Scholl in the 1982 release of White Rose.) Writer and director Percy Adlon focuses on Scholl's last five days of life in her prison cell, where she consistently refuses to recant her beliefs or compromise them in any way. Her cellmate is a woman who sympathizes with Scholl's views and admires her courage but clearly can do nothing to change her fate. Both the "White Rose" organization, and Scholl and her brother became famous in Germany after World War II. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- 1981
- R
The deep, enduring friendship between a French housekeeper and author Marcel Proust forms the basis of this beautifully rendered biopic that is based on the memoirs of the maid herself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eva Mattes, Jürgen Arndt, (more)
- 1978
This biographical documentary covers the last 23 years in the life of Robert Walser (Rolf Illig), the pre-WW II Swiss writer who easily rivalled the better-known Hermann Hesse. The 23 years in question were spent at Herisau, a clinic for the mentally disturbed in central Switzerland. It had always been assumed, logically enough, that Walser was in the clinic to be treated for mental illness, reputed to be schizophrenia according to published reports. But director and writer Percy Adlon researched the records of the clinic itself, filmed there to illustrate the environment around Walser during those years - and came up with doubts about that diagnosis. His efforts indicate that many of the myths about Walser should be laid to rest, and that it is possible the man was not at all schizophrenic. In 1936, three years after he was admitted to Herisau, Walser's publisher and eventual legal guardian, Carl Seelig (Horst Raspe), started visiting him two and three times a year until Walser's death in 1956. Questions are raised as to Seelig's motivation for those multiple visits, usually spent in long and energetic walks in the woods and fields. This documentary is divided into a series of chronological segments that take the viewer through the years of Walser's confinement, and into the personality of this inspired poet and writer. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rolf Illig, Horst Raspe, (more)
