"Lola" is a West German 2-hour movie from the years 1981 and it is among the final works of writer and director Rainer Werner Fassbinder before his untimely death one year later. You will find familiar faces from Fassbinder's films here (Kaufmann), but there are also famous German actors in here that are not too well acquainted with Fassbinder, such as Sukowa, Adorf or Mueller-Stahl. So it's a bit different from the usual Fassbinder film, but only in terms of the cast. In terms of writing, the characters and the sets, it is immediately visible who made this movie. My favorite aspect of the film was probably Mario Adorf's performance. He had such great screen presence and talent also back in the day. But the negative deal-breaker is Barbara Sukowa. I have seen some of her works and liked her in none. The good thing is she is not as cringeworthily over the top in here than in other (especially more recent works) and over-the-top is something you find in many Fassbinder films, so it should help her in creating an interesting character, but she was entirely forgettable and seemed really desperate in making an impact without having the talent to do so. I also cannot understand what awards bodies see in her. She also received a German Film Award for her portrayal here (or maybe also for another film) and it was not deserved. For Mueller-Stahl, the nomination may have been enough too. As a whole, the bad outweighs the good, so I give this one a thumbs-down, but then again i am not the very greatest Fassbinder fan anyway and in combination with Sukowa, he really hits rock-bottom. Certainly no way to say goodbye, watch something else instead.
Review of Lola
