Customer Reviews

Taxi Zum Klo

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4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

My motives for this review are selfish, since my life changed the day I saw this film (January 5th, 1984). Sitting in the theatre as an adolescent, enthralled by this film, I came out to myself and started the process of letting the rest of the world know who I am. I recently watched the film again, and realized that what is most amazing about this film is the blurring of the boundary between drama and documentary. We see Frank Ripploh enacting significant events in his life, even hooking up (and breaking it off again, this time for the camera) with his ex Bernd Broaderup for the sake of cinematic verissimilitude. It is sometimes harrowing, if not downright disturbing to watch, not because the sex scenes make most people (especially straight people) uncomfortable, but because the viewer feels like a voyeur. Everything about this film is "amateur," in the sense of being done for love instead of profit. We tend to disdain things "amateur" in our society, but a film about real people and the lives they lead cannot be "done" by professionals (Hollywood doesn't GET this). I think this is an amazing film, and none of the usual criteria for "reviewing" this film apply.

Frank Ripploh's largely autobiographical film takes two fairly schematic themes -- boy meets boy and all that that entails; and man deals with utter dislocation between job and private life -- and turns them into a fascinating look at a modern Germany that just as easily could be Taipei (think Ang Lee) or Rome (think Vittorio de Sica).

Frank is an elementary school teacher by day, and a sexual adventurer any time he is NOT at school. On one of his forays into the demimonde, he meets Bernd (played by the very appealing Bernd Broaderup) and falls in love. What follows is fairly typical of any love story, but it is in the details that Ripploh takes his audience into another world. Frank's love story is punctuated by sexual escapades that would have horrified Jane Austen. Added to this, Frank must come to terms with the increasing tension between his respectable job and his not so respectable but very exciting sex life. How Frank resolves this tension is simultaneously amusing and horrifying.

This film is not for prudes or the squeamish. The sex scenes are graphic and sometimes hard to watch. Also, it is obvious that the film was cheaply made, with gritty camera work and spotty sound quality. Still, the details draw the viewer in; you actually see how these people live (and where else do you see an old Karmann Ghia these days?). It is also eerie to see such lack of sexual restraint in a world on the brink of the HIV horror (Taxi zum Klo was released in 1981).

I was fascinated with this film in 1981 and I remain so in 2003. The only reason I gave this movie 3 stars instead of 4 is that the subtitles have an annoying tendency to disappear into the scenery. A passing familiarity with German would help fill in some of the gaps in legibility, but you will probably need several viewings to get all the plot points.

One comes away from this movie with feelings that only foreign films can provide. While Ripploh is no Kurosawa, de Sica, or Inagaki, he equals them in taking you to another world.

Don't buy this DVD! Very poor copy (fuzzy, weak color) of film (transfered from a VHS tape?). The subtitles (NOT removable) hard to read. No chapter stops. No extras except some equally fuzzy previews for other Cinevista products. Very disappointing cheap issue at a high price. Hopefully some other company will issue a proper version some day.

If you rebell at even the mildest same-sex love scene, you'd do well to keep your distance from Frank Ripploh's autobiographical TAXI ZUM KLO. Not only is the film shot through with casual male nudity and film clips of vintage pornography, it also contains several extremely explicit sex scenes--including at least one that will cause even the most jaded viewer to wince.

Filmed in Germany in 1981, TAXI ZUM KLO (which translates as "Taxi to the Toilet") is the saga of Frank Ripploh himself--who finds that his job as a school teacher impinges upon his sexual escapades in an annoying sort of way. Pressed for a piece of paper, he writes the telephone number of a potential sexual partner in a student's theme book; determined not to miss a moment, he grades student papers while cruising a public bathroom frequented by like-minded homosexuals. But then Frank meets Bernd (real-life partner Bernd Broaderup), and a one-night stand turns into a relationship in which Frank seems to have it all: handsome, sexy Bernd has eyes for Frank only--and he can even cook.

Up to this point TAXI ZUM KLO maintains a certain eccentric humor that balances distaste with amusement; now, however, we begin to see that Frank is essentially a sex addict, a man who both desires and fears a permanent relationship. As the relationship intensifies, Frank begins to undermine it, turning to casual drug use that fuels an ever-escalating round of sexual extremes. Can Frank maintain his day-time facade as a school teacher? How much is Bernd willing to endure?

TAXI ZUM KLO is often described as "an erotic comedy," and when it first made the rounds of art house cinemas and film festivals in the early 1980s it proved an audience favorite and critical darling; even so, the words "erotic" and "comedy" are more than a little dicey. Heterosexuals will have to be incredibly broadminded to find the film erotic, and after a certain point the same becomes true of homosexuals as well, for the sexual escapades become increasingly dark, increasingly disasteful as the film progresses. Much the same is true of the comic elements, which very soon become dark and, by the end of the film, less funny than disturbing and bitter. This is particularly true when one considers that Ripploh's behavior--and the behavior of others like him--fueled the AIDS crisis that exploded in the 1980s not long after this film debuted.

The performances, generally consisting of actors playing themselves, are unstudied yet interesting, and the visual style of the film approximates documentary. Although I do not own the hard-to-find DVD, I have seen it; it has no extras and the picture quality is mediocre at best. I do own the VHS, and while I would not describe that as pristine, I consider it distinctly superior in picture quality. In both cases, however, the subtitles are rendered in white print--and this is unfortunate, for they are often shown against light backgrounds that make them difficult to read.

In closing, I find it difficult to make a recommendation on TAXI ZUM KLO. Over the years I have shown it and loaned it to various friends, and few were able to sit through it from start to finish. Heterosexual viewers who weathered the graphic nature of the film usually found the veneral disease clinic scene a turning point; homosexual viewers endured longer but generally found a urine-laced scene toward the end of the film so distasteful that they stopped the film. Those able to reach the end of the film seemed to feel that its interest was undercut by the very unsympathetic nature of the central character and a considerable "ick" factor.

Ultimately, it probably best to consider TAXI ZUM KLO as a historical portrait of a certain segment of Berlin's pre-AIDS gay community. If you have an interest in that place and time, you will find it worth the effort; if not, you are likely to think the hurdles involved aren't worth the effort. Final word: enter at your own risk.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Believe it or not this piece of German filmography translates as "Taxi to the toilet". It's basically a no holds barred account of the life of an "ordinary" gay man in a not so ordinary leather scene in 70's Deutschland.

Some of the scenes are a little shocking for the time and even now too, however the harder images are carefully filmed and work well with the general running of the movie.

To summarise: Actually quite a good, well acted, film but definitely for a mature audience.

(The DVD is in German language with removal English subtitles.)

Perhaps too explicit for some viewers, this autobiographical semi-documentary tells the story of an oddly likable teacher who is both very caring to his students but restless in his personal life, unable to accept the monogamous, domestic life which his partner, also a likable guy, offers him. No simple answers here but remarkably honest story(alot like life).

I had read so much about this film before purchasing, and was so excited to finally be able to view it, I actually had a good mix of sexually divergent friends over for the "opening". The varied opinions afterward were remarkably similar - not enough sex to be porno, not enough empathy for the leads to be an effective drama. I don't know if this would have been better as a short film (my leaning) or as a couple of separate films, but with this your choices are : a longing for domestication guy who is trying to make it work with a nymphomaniac, um, other guy. Who happens to be the lead,writer, and director. The sex is brief, hot, and explicit. In every aspect it could have been more so. And if the writing could have transcended the bottom/doormat vs. top/anything with anyone goes lead, it could have been remarkable. 3 stars because the sex, is in fact, hot.

What "Taxi Zum Klo" represents is a kind of test-cast film for censorship. It is a personal work of a film maker and actor whose controversial life style is presented in a no-holds-barred manner. One may be put off by the candor and explicitness of its subject, but one cannot fault the creativity that went into its production. Further, what was once a film that was sought to be banned is now readily available for purchase and rental. As the years pass, it may become standard viewing fare. As a film work, the quality to me as slilghtly above average. Filmmaker Frank Ripploh somehow failed to present a full auoiographcal portriat which would give the viewer some understanding of the basis for main character's thinking and motivation. As it is, the "anti-hero" elicits little empathy, and emerges rather nasty and cold. One observes but has little feeling for him or his actions. The film also seems disjointed at times, with bits and snippets of extraneous action shots interspersed into the main narrative, without clear purpose. As an "experimental work" the film has greater validity.

It's difficult to rate this film. It conveys well the spirit of gay life in the late '70s and early 80s. But it has some scenes that are disgusting to watch, and it isn't the sexual ones. Also it made me realize that good pornography that has been cosmetically enhanced and done with photographic artistry makes sexual matters much more appealing than the rough, raw stuff in this film. If I could, I would give it 2stars for its appeal to me, and 4stars for the intentions of the artist, Ripploh.

This product was not worth the money and the quality was third rate. It would not recomend it to anyone