I have to say in general I may not be the very biggest fan of German filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, but here I kinda liked his work I guess. There are some films of his I really like ("Angst essen Seele auf", "Martha"), but also a large part of his body of work did little to nothing for me. "Händler der vier Jahreszeiten" or "The Merchant of Four Seasons" is among his earlier, but not first works and looking at how he was only in his mid-20s when he made this film, it is an impressive achievement taking that into account. A wild new generation of cinema we have here, even if it is not so obvious by today's standards as the film is of course 45 years old now already. And Fassbinder's work was also honored on several occasions here, for example by winning the grand prize at the German Film Awards that year. The two lead actors were honored too and three of the supporting cast received nominations. The only one who is absolutely deserving of all the attention is Hans Hirschmüller in my opinion. His lead performance is the heart and soul of this work here. And it helps that he is in so many scenes as he carries the action nicely and even when he isn't, every scene probably still has an impact on his character. A bit sad that he has not really been that prolific in the last 30 years or just appeared in minor projects and roles. As for the action in this one here, it is okay and interesting, but not among Fassbinder's very finest. I think a lot of the film's success is due to Hirschmüller's great performance. But this film is also once again about people talking about other people, usually in derogatory ways as it was so common back then and still is today. The costume design and sets reminds strongly of Mad Men. Those were the days that the series is portraying and Germany did not look entirely different compared to the United States. All in all, this relatively short Fassbinder film (stays easily under 90 minutes) is worth checking out. I give it a thumbs up.
