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Post by peteyt on Oct 10, 2020 11:01:39 GMT -5
The Golden Glove is a film that seems to be designed to strip away all the redeeming elements and motives of a serial killer movie. It is an adaptation of a book on real life German serial killer Fritz Honka who murdered four women between 1970 and 1975, hiding their body parts in his apartment. The film's title is the name of the pub in Hamburg’s red-light district where he met his victims.
Over the last few years it seems there has been a rise in serial killers in film and TV and a fascination in real life serial killers, with things such as the Ted Bundy Tapes. A lot of these try to explain the reasons behind their actions but also show some of their normality. A lot of movies with serial killers for example, romanticize them, making them often dark, but attractive.
The Golden Glove seems to be an answer to this problem, by making a film where the killer is mainly portrayed as a monster. You don’t get really any background to Fritz Honka and mainly see him getting drunk and picking up women. He is portrayed in a very ugly way. I haven’t really seen much if any German cinema but was surprised when I saw who played him, Jonas Dassler. Not an actor I know but he isn’t recognizable in the film thanks to a lot of makeup and what not. The film turns him into someone who doesn’t just act like a monster but seems to kind of look like one, including the weird way he often stares.
I suppose it’s hard to explain a lot without giving too much away. The film as I mentioned has him getting drunk most of the time which seems to play a big part in his violent outbreaks. However if there is supposed to be a message about alcohol in here it seemed to get lost. The way he treats women is very uncomfortable - I should note a lot of the films' more extreme violence happens out of frame of the camera, but you see a lot of things like him beating up his victims such as when he struggles to get it up.
However I also found the film had a dark comedy element often running through although that might just be me. An example is how he tries to use car tree air fresheners to hide the smell of decay and if people asks blames it on the Greeks cooking downstairs (he lives in a block of apartments).
The film is shot very well if often shot to look gritty and smelly. The director obviously knows what he is doing and there is a great scene at the end with no sound that I found worked really effective. However I felt the film missed something. When first reading about the film before deciding to watch it it made me think of Henry, portrait of a serial killer. That had a similar gritty feel to it but I feel it worked because of the way Michael Rooker portrayed Henry Lee Lucas, often changing his stories. I just feel like we didn’t learn enough about Fritz Honka which made me wonder of the films point, which probably was the whole point of the film.
I read after people pointing out the film does get you think about class, the fact a lot of his victims where homeless and never missed, but the film never really does anything with any of this, which I feel might have added something to the film.
It’s an interesting film although one I’d probably not watch again
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