KAMIKAZE 1989 is THE FIFTH ELEMENT for Euro art-house buffs

The production design of KAMIKAZE 1989 makes Fassbinder's own QUERELLE look positively ascetic and black-and-white in comparison.

This is real film-making. Cinema of excess starring that Europe's unstoppable film monster, Rainer Werner Fassbinder. A film that freely gambles and, most of the time, looses and still somehow remains worthwhile. 
KAMIKAZE 1989 is sort of an update on Godard's ALPHAVILLE.Or a kitschy companion piece to BLADERUNNER, if you prefer. Fassbinder, playing an alcoholic policeman in Germany's dystopian near future creates a likable, three-dimensional character who happens to live in a cartoonish world. 
In terms of coherent storytelling KAMIKAZE 1989 is a disaster. It's as if they omitted (or didn't film at all) some vital scenes, the story seems to skip and lose focus. I've had the source novel for years, perhaps it's the time I read it. That could help make sense of the incoherent story. 


Learn more about KAMIKAZE 1989 here.

Below are some grabs of Fassbinder as lieutenant Jansen and his magnificent leopard outfit. Enjoy!