Beware Of A Holy Whore

The final film in the Eclipse Series 39: Early Fassbinder directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder is Beware Of A Holy Whore (1970). And to be honest it was my least favorite. I had read that some reviewer said that watching the others would lead the viewer to a greater appreciation of this film, which he thought was the best in the collection. It has a very different feel to it than most of the other films, I suppose it most resembles Kazelmacher in execution, since it is mostly made of scenes of people waiting around. I guess I was thinking that there was some solipsistic, meta-narrative going on that was only apparent to Fassbinder and his crew. Perhaps this is more homage to Goddard than film noir as some of the early films, and this cannot be denied by the presence of Alphaville’s Eddie Constantine, as himself. This is Fassbinder's first color film in this series and looks good, he used Hollywood cinematographer Michael Ballhaus. In the accompanying essay by Michael Koresky, he suggests that the climactic work of the first phase of Fassbinder’s career and an expression of his need to start afresh. After this Fassbinder has supposedly made more accessible films. This was his most esoteric in my opinion. I will have to see some late career films to see if this indeed did happen. I am watching Fassbinder, because most critics agree that he is a modern master. The jury is still out.