Taxi zum Klo

Taxi zum Klo is a 1981 film written by, directed by, and starring Frank Ripploh. The film is a dark comedy of manners that wryly explores the life of a Berlin school teacher and the contrasts between his public and private lives. It was sexually explicit for general audiences of the day and for some time afterwards. So, for example, the film was not passed uncut by the British Board of Film Classification until 2011[1], though it was widely shown in club cinemas. Taxi zum Klo was considered groundbreaking for its subject matter and achieved a cult status among audiences of the time.

Taxi zum Klo
DVD Cover
Directed byFrank Ripploh
Written byFrank Ripploh
Starring
  • Frank Ripploh
  • Bernd Broaderup
Music byHans Wittstatt
CinematographyHorst Schier
Edited by
  • Gela-Marina Runne
  • Matthias von Gunten
Distributed byPromovision International (USA)
Release date
  • 1981 (1981)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryGermany
LanguageGerman

Shot on location with many characters appearing as themselves, the film documents gay culture in West Berlin in the brief moment post gay liberation and before the onset of AIDS, around 1980. Ripploh has stated that much of the film was autobiographical. The name literally means Taxi to the Toilet (or "Cab to the Cottage", etc.), that being a place for casual gay sex.[2][3]

Cast
  • Frank Ripploh as Frank Ripploh
  • Bernd Broaderup as Bernd
  • Orpha Termin
  • Peter Fahrni as Gas station attendant
  • Hans-Gerd Mehrtens as the Leather Boy
  • Dieter Godde
  • Klaus Schnee
  • Bernd Kroger
  • Markus Voigtlander
  • Irmgard Lademacher
  • Gregor Becker
  • Marguerite Dupont
  • Eberhard Freudenthal
  • Beate Springer
  • Millie Büttner
  • Gitta Lederer
  • Toller Cranston in a cameo role as himself

Critical reception

The Village Voice hailed it as 'the first masterpiece about the mainstream of male gay life'.[4] Taxi zum Klo tied with Beau-père in winning the 1981 Boston Society of Film Critics Award for best foreign language film.[5]

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References
  1. "Taxi Zum Klo". www.bbfc.co.uk. British Board of Film Classification. 22 April 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2015.
  2. Movie Review: Taxi zum Klo (1981) Janet Maslin, The New York Times, 2 October 1981.
  3. Taxi Zum Klo, review Sukhdev Sandhu, The Daily Telegraph, 21 April 2011.
  4. Private Affairs: Critical Ventures in the Culture of Social Relations by Phillip Brian Harper, paperback edition, page 70
  5. "Past Award Winners," Boston Society of Film Critics, URL accessed March 1, 2013.
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