• I’m not overly familiar with Brechtian style so have to do my best here to analyze the film based on my cinema knowledge. I do know that Brecht believed in the distancing effect—or the alienation/estrangement effect which basically (again, as I understand it) is about how he doesn’t want the audience to overly emphasize with his characters and I see that here and how powerfully it works
  • Depression-era hard-hit Germany. It centers on the lower depths of society, crime, money, bread, survival, poverty—gorgeous opening shot down an alley.
  • Talented shot by Pabst- reflection in glass at the absolute perfect angle
  • A roving camera throughout—plenty of shots behind windows
  • The dialogue is largely unspoken—looks and glances and quite effective
  • Busy mise-en-scene in the alleys and bars
  • Heavy use of glass and mirrors
  • Mackie- “Mack the Knife”- master of the underground- seedy vs Peachum who is beggar king
  • The songs—(done largely by “the street singer” Ernst Busch) are a formal element. Strong. I’ve seen it influence everything after from Cabaret (he’s the Joel Grey character- a sort of narrator that isn’t in the story really or the main narrative). Perhaps not on the nose but I can also see its influences on pennies from heaven, dancer in the dark, Demy, and berlin alexander—this is a far cry from Hollywood escapism musicals that would come after
  • I wish Pabst had shot pandora’s box this way—I love the male gaze factor, narrative arc and Louise Brooks’ performance/character but this film is directed more strongly by Pabst
  • A stunner of a shot through a brothel. Tracking shot like Murnau and some nice mise-en-scene/décor clutter and detail like caligari or Von Sternberg
  • Nihilistic and dark
  • Narrator talking to the camera- “Even you won’t see this turn in the story coming” (paraphrase)—reflexive and breaking the 4th wall
  • The coronation parade is built up throughout as the big day and the payoff spectacle is worth the wait and anticipation. It reminds me of day of the locusts and gangs of new york with it being sort of a street riot and explosion
  • The “Mack the Knife” song is wonderful- even nearly 100 years later
  • Shadowy dystopia—a mesh between depression-era realism and overly expressive mise-en-scene
  • Must-See