Fassbinder's first great film, groundbreaking in many ways: Fox and His Friends

Fox and His Friends (1976) stands as probably Rainer Werner Fassbinder's first great film, groundbreaking in many ways and a film that established RWF as a master at staging and composition - and also a multiple threat, director, writer, lead actor. In particular, the film is groundbreaking as one of the first honest and non-exploitative films about gay culture - as almost all of the lead characters are gay, and we see that they are flamboyant, catty, vindictive, jealous, spiteful, in other words pretty much like characters/couples in any movie. You could imagine the entire film done with hetero characters, and it could be pretty much the same - though in depicting a gay culture there's a constant element of danger and marginalization that gives the film a sharp edge. In essence, the plot involves RWF's lead character, the eponymous Fox, a working-class guy from a family troubled by alcoholism who wins a huge prize in a lottery and from that point forward is taken in by a set of artistic and wealthy homosexual mean and painfully exploited by a man with whom he, supposedly, falls in love. It's awful to watch as this so-called partner takes advantage of Fox's naivety, and in particular how he humiliates Fox for what he considers his uncouth manners and plebeian taste. The film flirts with the idea of a Pygmalion story - the wealthy sophisticate bringing culture and manners to the working-class beloved - bt RWF is far to shrewd and honest to build such a fake drama: We quickly suffer with Fox as he suffers condescension and humiliation. Pretty much every scene is beautifully staged - and its hard to underestimate how important RWF's blocking can be; like most of his movies, this one verges on the edge of stage-play, and in lesser hands it would feel static and "talky," but RWF uses each scene to show us part of a world and a culture, without the dialog or the movements (of characters and of camera) ever feeling forced or unnatural. The great scenes include shopping for furniture and clothing, the transformation of the new apartment, the party to celebrate the new digs, visits to the small and discrete gay bar, the long scene on the ramps in a parking garage, and the famous ending scene in what appears to be a subway concourse (though I wonder why there's so little foot traffic), and many others. Many, perhaps most, of RWF's great films are about woman protagonists; this is a rarity in the canon - though we'll see throughout many of his staple of actors - and well worth watching.