Only Two Things

“ONLY TWO THINGS // NUR ZWEI DINGE” sheds a fragmentary light on the decline of a relationship and presents the polemics of Benn's nihilistic outlook with the will of perfection of a young generation. Performed by the voice of german author and actor Jo Jung and accompanied by experimental music from the Mercury Prize nominated and London-based “Portico Quartet” and the german Ambient-Electronic newcomer “Innere Tueren”. There are only two things: the empty and the formed ego. A realization that, according to Gottfried Benn, every individual has to face at some point. In his last years Benn sensed this process and looked back in his poem „Nur zwei Dinge (1953)" and inevitably into the future. The large, self-actualizing “I” of the individual is lost in the crowd and in anonymity. Narcissistic models of upbringing and personality structures in our time are opposed to the ideal of a relationship, of love and mutual spiritual growth. Many young people are fighting this fight: with themselves, with their generation or with the generation before them.

Wilko Gulden
Germany 2020 15 mins
October 9, 2021 4:15 pm
Location: Film City Glasgow