The Flamethrowers

Matthias Müllers films are always about both the eternal and the volatile qualities of cinema They exaggerate the unreality and clinical perfection of the Hollywood studio films of the 1950s quoting its sets and colours Home Stories 1990 Pensão Globo 1997 or even reconstructing them in minute detail Alpsee 1994 But at the same time these attributes known in film jargon as the production values are exposed to decay a decay which on closer inspection proves to include wilful acts of creation As his own lab technician Müller is responsible not only for subsequent wear and tear but also for the initial developing of his own film material