By DAVID KEREKES (Headpress; 1994/98/2026)
A new edition of a book that was initially published in 1994. Its subject, the German underground filmmaker Jörg Buttgereit, was riding high in ‘94, and SEX MUDER ART’s initial edition reflected that. At that point he’d made four no-budget features, two of which, NEKROMANTIK (1988) and its 1991 sequel, attained enormous popularity (and not a little controversy) on the horror/cult movie circuit. It would seem Buttgereit was at the commencement of a long and enduring directorial career, but following the 1993 release of SCHRAMM (the making of which is chronicled in these pages), he largely abandoned filmmaking altogether, having since made just one short film, a portion of the anthology feature GERMAN ANGST (2015).
This updating of SEX MURDER ART is must reading for Buttgereit fans, even those who’ve perused the earlier edition. Author David Kerekes doesn’t negate the forward-thinking gist of his original text, but does offer a lot of newly written material that makes for a fascinating then-now juxtaposition. We get a good accounting of the Jörg Buttgereit of thirty years ago, when he established a secret location to hide the negatives of his films from German censors, and his current state as an elder statesman whose once-notorious output is now revered by the establishment.
More importantly in my view, we learn why it is that Buttgereit stopped making films. He offers multiple rationales, starting with an ever-changing exhibition landscape that makes turning a profit difficult if not impossible, particularly in light of video piracy, something that has consistently dogged a filmmaker whose debut feature has been called the most widely bootlegged film of all time (the 1994 edition of this book contained a provocative exchange about that subject between Buttgereit’s longtime producing partner Manfred Jelinski and the late Chas. Balun). Buttgereit, furthermore, has a new passion: theater, which offers a flexible and ever-changing outlet for his creativity, whereas “the movies stay the same. So boring!”
Also present are the author’s impressions of Buttergeit’s major stomping grounds Berlin and Hamburg (including a recollection of a none-too-well-received screening of GERMAN ANGST held in the latter city), and production histories of each of Buttgereit’s four features. Rounding things out are copious photographic reproductions from the collections of Kerekes and Buttgereit, and sumptuous paintings by the book’s designer Mark Critchell of Butgereit and his filmic collaborators.