Factotum (film)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Factotum
Original title Factotum
Country of production USA , Norway
original language English
Publishing year 2005
length 92 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Bent Hamer
script Bent Hamer,
Jim Stark
production Bent Hamer,
Jim Stark
music Kristin Asbjørnsen
camera John Christian Rosenlund
cut Pål Gengenbach
occupation
synchronization

Factotum is an American - Norwegian drama directed by Bent Hamer from 2005 . Bent Hamer and Jim Stark wrote the script based on the novel of the same name by Charles Bukowski . In relation to Bukowski's Odyssey across the United States in the 1940s, interspersed with odd jobs, autobiographical traits can be recognized in the protagonist Henry Chinaski .

However, the storyline takes place in a contemporary setting in an unspecific location.

action

Henry Hank Chinaski sees himself as a writer. He mentions this profession at the beginning of the film when he, apparently just moved out of his parents' home, finds accommodation in a guesthouse. In fact, he lives off odd jobs. He sends his texts to Black Sparrow magazine , which does not publish them. Chinaski devotes his time not only to writing, but also to alcohol and women.

Chinaski repeatedly loses his job due to drunkenness and provocation by his superiors; the protagonist impresses with his unshakable self-confidence. Whether packing spare parts or in a cucumber factory - as a proud representative of the working class, he seeks his freedom, for example when violating the smoking ban or against the schnapps bottle, and at the same time, as a master of the written word, he feels himself the dull activities with which he is should earn his money, consider.

Through a friend, he temporarily makes money while betting on horses. He had previously fallen in love with Jan, who lives a similar lifestyle to him, and he moves in after three days. The relationship oscillates between violent sexual encounters, empty refrigerator, intoxication and hangover. On the racecourse, Chinaski knocks down a well-to-do citizen on a reserved spot who is keeping "his" traditional seat occupied. Shortly thereafter, they lose betting, are both without a job or money, and after they both feel sick after a night of partying, they discover that their love has run out.

Hank moves out and gets to know Laura, who - like her friends, a former bar girl, receives her keep from a wealthy bon vivant named Pierre. Pierre endures the girls, provides them accommodation, clothes and food, takes them with him on his yacht; but a short time later, when he dies, this source of income has dried up, and Henry Chinaski is again left with nothing.

Now he has to knock again at his parents, who are conservative workers, and ask for a warm meal and a place to sleep. The mother takes the “prodigal son” back with pity; his father, however, grievously reproaches him for having achieved nothing and for living at the expense of society.

After a few minutes, Henry is thrown out of his parents' house by his father and goes in search of Jan in his former neighborhood. He realizes that she meant something to him and is happy to find her again as a maid in a hotel. He moves in with her. Although both still love each other, they still fail to build a lasting relationship between doing odd jobs and the constant lack of money. The annoyed tiredness with which Jan pulls off her shoes after a long march, on which she accompanied Hank in vain to collect a pending check at a lost one-day job, corresponds to the general disillusionment with the daily struggle for existence. In the end she leaves him and moves in with a wealthy patron.

Finally, Chinaski's landlady, with whom he has long since moved out, receives a message from the publisher that one of the stories will be printed shortly. The - autobiographically significant - perspective suggests that the unsuccessful factotum should eventually become a writer.

synchronization

The German synchronization was for a dialogue book and the dialogue director of Mina Kindl on behalf of their synchronous company in Munich .

role Actress German voice
Henry Chinaski Matt Dillon Christian Tramitz
Jan Lili Taylor Sandra Schwittau
Laura Marisa Tomei Claudia Lössl
Manny Fisher Stevens Claus Brockmeyer
Pierre Didier Flamand Peter Fricke
Jerry Adrienne Shelly Ulrike Stürzbecher
Robert Chinaski James Noah Norbert Gastell
Tony Endicott Thomas Lyons Niko Macoulis

Reviews

The Rotten Tomatoes review collection lists 117 reviews, 76 percent of which are positive. The average rating is 6.8 out of 10 points.

Kenneth Turan wrote in the Los Angeles Times on August 16, 2006 that the film was "surprisingly satisfactory." He combines the sensitivity of the author of the novel with that of the director and with that of the main characters. The "talented" Matt Dillon plays with an expressionless face like Buster Keaton , he gives the character played "dignity" and "self-control".

The character study is content “with the description of a non-conformist way of life, whose aimlessness also stimulates contradiction. The calm narrative attitude that avoids any transfiguration and the grandiose acting actors take over the film despite clichés ”, is the lexicon of international film .

Awards

Bent Hamer was nominated in 2005 for the prize of the Spanish Semana Internacional de Cine de Valladolid and for the Norwegian Amandautdelingen . He and Lili Taylor won the Golden Swan at the Copenhagen International Film Festival in 2005 . Lili Taylor won the 2006 San Diego Film Critics Society Award .

background

The film was shot in various locations in Minnesota . Its production amounted to an estimated one million US dollars . The film had its world premiere on April 12, 2005 at the Trondheim Kosmorama International Film Festival . It grossed approximately $ 808,000 in US cinemas.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for Factotum . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , November 2005 (PDF; test number: 104 408 K).
  2. ↑ Factotum. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on April 19, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Factotum (2006). In: Rotten Tomatoes. Accessed April 7, 2019 .
  4. ^ Review by Kenneth Turan, accessed August 1, 2007
  5. ^ Factotum in the Lexicon of International Films

Web links