Happy Lamento
6.0
On the one hand, the beyond-Tropicália surreal, wild, ecstatic universe of Khavn de la Cruz, the Philippines’ internationally most venerated underground filmmaker. On the other, the Frankfurt School dialectics of Alexander Kluge, self-proclaimed arrière-guard eternal of 1960s modernist moviedom, Gandalf of all essay cinema. For Happy Lamento, Kluge mixed some of his weirder TV skits on electricity, the circus, revolution and early cinema (featuring Fassbinder-regular Peter Berling, theatre genius Heiner Müller, and DaDaism’s last man standing, Helge Schneider, among others) with some of the more outrageous scenes from Khavn’s 2016 Ang Napakaigsing Buhay Ng Alipato. Some 2017 G20 shots of Merkel and Trump et al inject the already heady brew with current affairs urgency.
Where to watch
Not streaming anywhere
Not on any streaming service in United States, and not available to rent.
Your rating
Your review
Cast
5 people
Khavn
Self (archive footage)
Also in
Alipato: The Very Brief Life of an Ember
Ruined Heart: Another Lovestory Between a Criminal & a Whore
Helge Schneider
Self
Known for
My Führer
00 Schneider - Jagd auf Nihil Baxter
Alexander Kluge
Heiner Müller
Self (archive footage)
Also in
Robert Wilson and the Civil Wars
Die Zeit ist aus den Fugen
Wolfgang Rihm
Self (archive footage)
Alexander Kluge Director · Khavn Screenplay
First release September 11, 2018 · Produced in Germany
Production
Kairos-Film
Production
Germany
Produced in
Languages
Original language
German
Spoken on screen
German
Release dates
Italy · September 11, 2018
Theatrical
Germany · June 20, 2019
Theatrical
No release date listed for United States.
India
November 1, 2019 · Kolkata International Film Festival
South Korea
May 4, 2019 · Premiere · Jeonju International Film Festival
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Some details come from TheTVDB.