The German film renaissance of the 1970s and 80s included gay directors Rosa Von Praunheim and Rainer Werner Fassbinder gaining worldwide recognition and in 1981 their friend Frank Ripploh briefly joined them when TAXI ZUM KLO became an instant cause celebre; it took 30 years for the British censore to pass it uncut.
Actor/writer/first-time director Ripploh makes sure the film revolves around him. Echoing early John Waters films - amateurish, kitsch pop music, an over-reliance on kamikaze editing and counterpointed action - it's quite remarkable.
Ripploh plays... Frank Ripploh, a teacher whose pupils enjoy his classes. His life revolves around cruising clubs and toilets, quietly wondering if he misses out on not having a partner.
After meeting cinema usher Bernd, they move in together. Bernd wants them to leave Berlin to live in the countryside which alerts Frank that his sexual outlaw days are over.
The relationship deteriorates...
Shelf or charity shop? Frank can live in my plastic storage box... despite Ripploh's clanging insistance that the film revolves around him, luckily he has charm and charisma enough to overcome this - indeed he gives the audience ample opportunities to dislike him. Sadly the character of Bernd (played by Bernd Broaderup) is such a thinly-drawn character that it's difficult to feel anything for him - probably Ripploh's intention - so Bernd comes across as a bit of a whiny bore. This makes the second half of the film - where the relationship starts to breakdown - a bit one-sided. Famous for the explicit gay sex scenes which caused endless censorship troubles - the British censors got themselves into a right old lather over a 'golden shower' scene - these scenes have almost an elegiac quality now. TAXI ZUM KLO's award-winning success inflated Ripploh's ego and he dropped many old friends and, despite a small role in Fassbinder's QUERELLE, the next film he directed failed and even a later sequel to TAXI ZUM KLO tanked. He died of cancer in 2002, aged 52. And that title? It translates as TAXI TO THE TOILETS, after the scene when, following an argument when Bernd visits him in hospital, Frank sneaks out and hires a taxi to take him around Berlin's public toilets. That Frank...
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