Fahrenheit 451

Tiefen und Hoffnungslosigkeit 1984 werden wir hier zwar nicht erleben, aber es handelt sich dennoch um eine sehr vielversprechende Show. An einigen Stellen ist der Film zwar ziemlich gestelzt und naiv, aber das lässt sich überwinden und die Naivität ist manchmal sogar niedlich, was wir jedoch nicht unbedingt als positiv ansehen können, da es sich um eine anti-utopische Science-Fiction handelt, die nicht niedlich wirken sollte. Der Film würde definitiv von einer viel kürzeren Laufzeit profitieren. Einige Szenen waren wirklich ziemlich langatmig, zum Beispiel das zwiespältige Ende. Auf der anderen Seite hat es mir aber Spaß gemacht zu raten, welche Bücher erwähnt werden, und ja, einige schafften es sogar zu meinem geliebten Edgar Allan Poe. Auf jeden Fall hat Fahrenheit 451 eine großartige Idee und Konzept, die wahrscheinlich besser umgesetzt werden könnten. Ich würde mich ziemlich für ein Remake interessieren, wenn es in die richtigen Hände fallen würde. (10.07.2012)

What I’ve always liked the most about dystopia is the helpless and hopeless situation of the characters who try to stand up to the system. Those ingredients are present, so satisfaction. My only problem is that I can’t fully understand why this society would protect their power this way and through these means, and the tactics of the resistance (the book people) are questionable to say the least. (31.05.2011)

This was the fourth movie by François Truffaut that I watched and I was hoping it might surprise me a lot. The premise literally suggested it. But while watching, I quite quickly realized that it s more or less all about the premise. After all, the reviewer Enšpígl is right. The movie is quite emotionless. You can’t form a relationship with the characters. And that’s pretty bad, because in a world full of fascists I would need someone to hang onto and hope for the better. I didn’t see anything like that in the 112 minutes of this movie. I just glimpsed into a world that was making me sick. It was just as impersonal as the movie 1984, which introduced a similar premise. (21.09.2014)

Truffaut’s distinctive - wait, why distinctive? - idiosyncratic adaptation of Bradbury’s vision of the present. At least it gives me that feeling; just look around you to see how many people are reading or what they read. Everything is becoming so simplified that we are not far away from a situation when there won’t be any writing anywhere. Not even opening credits (btw, Truffaut did an excellent job of down-to-the-final-detail stylization of a world without a single letter, and the whole atmosphere smacks of “cold austerity". On the other hand we would get rid of those tabloid newspaper headlines with countless exclamation marks after every act of libel. So don’t be surprised that I’m off to create my own 451° Fahrenheit. I’ll start with today’s The Sun (!!), yesterday’s Paparazzi (!!!) and then go over to archive editions of the National Enquirer (!!!!!). So Truffaut didn’t disappoint as filmmaker. But as a person. He let so many wonderful books burn just because of some detestable motion picture. Nobody has a right to do something like that... Not even genius filmmakers. Especially when I have been searching in vain for one for years. You owe me one, François! (26.03.2008)

Sometimes less is more. Truffaut knew this well, which is why the austere architecture and simple visual effects are not a bad thing; on the contrary, they perfectly illustrate the gloomy atmosphere of a uniformed Orwellian society. The unique atmosphere, Truffaut's inventive direction, and Bradbury's book, when things like this combine, the result will be nothing short of a compelling piece of cinema. (11.05.2003)