Ali: Fear Eats the Soul
Drama, Romance
-
1974
Available on
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Emmi Kurowski, a cleaning lady, is lonely in her old age. Her husband died years ago, and her grown children offer little companionship. One night she goes to a bar frequented by Arab immigrants and strikes up a friendship with middle-aged mechanic Ali. Their relationship soon develops into something more, and Emmi's family and neighbors criticize their spontaneous marriage. Soon Emmi and Ali are forced to confront their own insecurities about their future.
Director:
Cast:
Similar
Details
Runtime:
93 min
Release date:
5 Mar 1974
Country:
DE
Languages:
Arabic, German
Budget:
$130,000
Revenue:
$186,757
Awards:
4 wins & 1 nomination
Top Critics Reviews
fresh:
Fassbinder's historicism is a crucial aspect of his modernism: he didn't just make use of prior forms, he quoted them, and derived from them the ironies implicit in his melodramatic styles.
– Richard Brody,
New Yorker,
3 Jun 2014
fresh:
This 1974 film stands as one of Fassbinder's sturdiest achievements, posed between the low-budget funkiness of his early features and the mannerism of his late period.
– Dave Kehr,
Chicago Reader,
25 May 2011
fresh:
Technically flawless, deceptively simple and avoiding excesses, it is about problems that are timely and timeless in implications.
– Variety Staff,
Variety,
26 Jun 2008
fresh:
Fassbinder uses dramatic and visual excess to push everyday events to extremes, achieving a degree of political and psychological truth not accessible through mere social realism.
– Nigel Floyd,
Time Out,
26 Jan 2006
fresh:
It is, rather, another quite courageous attempt by Mr. Fassbinder to develop a film style free of the kind of realistic conventions that sentimentalize life's mysteries.
– Vincent Canby,
New York Times,
9 May 2005