In a Year of 13 Moons (1978)

Directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder. Starring Volker Spengler, Ingrid Caven, Gottfrid John, Eva Mattes, Elisabeth Trissenaar, Lilo Pempeit, Günther Kaufmann, Isolde Barth.

Erratic, contradictory, and off-putting melodrama from Fassbinder is seeped in stream-of-conscious messiness and jarring mood swings, so his devotees are likely to lap it up while others might find it too inscrutable. Spengler’s alienated transvestite drifter sets out on a meandering, deconstructive journey as a means for Fassbinder to page through his own contorted feelings and memories (his lover committed suicide shortly before production began). The combination of preening camp and feminine glorification very nearly operates as an arty, self-analytical bridge between Douglas Sirk and Pedro Almodóvar, but the emotional vitality is as elliptical as it is operatic, and there’s no gratification or catharsis at the end. Still, the central performance is something to behold, and there are some powerful (and despairing) episodes along the way, so—flaws and all—it’s a hard-to-shake experience, at the very least. Spengler’s narration was reportedly unscripted, shaped as responses to various (unheard) prompts from the filmmaker. Among his own films, one of Fassbinder’s most favored.

68/100