On Wolliner Strasse, where I used to live in Mitte/on the edge of Prenzlauer Berg.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Berlinale II
Part two of my Berlinale experience this year!
First there was "Romeos":
That picture pretty much says it all: 20-year-old Lukas (left) is a female-to-male transsexual; he's just started transitioning, using testosterone. He's excited to finally start his new life in big-city Cologne, but incredibly anxious that someone might find out the big secret, that he used to be a girl. Matters are complicated, of course, by super-sexy, super-confident Fabio (right), who seems to be developing an interest in Lukas... but doesn't like transsexuals.
The film does a great job of balancing a serious topic (gender identity, and living the way you feel is right for you, and whether people will accept you for it), with a whole lot of over-the-top teenage angst (of the "No one loves me!!!! No one will ever love me!!!!" type) with really great comedic moments.
I highly recommend it if it plays anywhere near you.
Then, the same evening, essentially by accident, I saw the film that won the festival - "Nader and Simin, a Separation."
By accident how, you ask? Well, the last day of the festival is also the only one for which you can buy the tickets at any time, rather than going through the usual not-until-three-days-in-advance jig that forces you into long and repeated trips to the box office.
So the first day I went to get tickets (the day I waited on line more than two hours!) I went ahead and grabbed not one but two shows for the last festival day. I'm not entirely sure how I ended up with "Nader and Simin" - I don't even usually bother with the films in the main competition, preferring the more independent and experimental festival sections instead, but I guess a movie from Iran sounded interesting and relevant.
It wasn't until I was on my way there with a friend that we saw on the little subway TV news screen that... "Nader and Simin" just won the Berlinale award, the Golden Bear. Oh. Hey. That's the one we're going to see! And indeed, we got there and the entrance to the movie theater was crowded with people holding up signs, hoping someone would have last-minute tickets to sell.
I wish I could say the movie was amazing; actually it was by far my least favorite of the four festival films I saw. The topic was certainly interesting and important (about life in Iran, and partly examining the yawning divide between educated, secular Iranians and people from the religious working class). I just thought the director could have done a much, much better job with the material - the movie was very slow and repetitive and hardly any of the characters were likeable enough to make you want to keep watching them despite the slowness.
But then again, nobody ever said the Berlinale judges picked their winners based on artistic merit... and with a jury that's one member short because it was supposed to include a filmmaker who's now in jail in Iran, you can see why they might have wanted to make a point with their selection.
All in all, I'm still glad I saw "Nader and Simin" - I definitely learned something about Iran (which is a big part of the point of such an international festival for me) and it was pretty cool, just the once, to be at the big-deal movie everyone wanted to see.
First there was "Romeos":
That picture pretty much says it all: 20-year-old Lukas (left) is a female-to-male transsexual; he's just started transitioning, using testosterone. He's excited to finally start his new life in big-city Cologne, but incredibly anxious that someone might find out the big secret, that he used to be a girl. Matters are complicated, of course, by super-sexy, super-confident Fabio (right), who seems to be developing an interest in Lukas... but doesn't like transsexuals.
The film does a great job of balancing a serious topic (gender identity, and living the way you feel is right for you, and whether people will accept you for it), with a whole lot of over-the-top teenage angst (of the "No one loves me!!!! No one will ever love me!!!!" type) with really great comedic moments.
I highly recommend it if it plays anywhere near you.
Then, the same evening, essentially by accident, I saw the film that won the festival - "Nader and Simin, a Separation."
By accident how, you ask? Well, the last day of the festival is also the only one for which you can buy the tickets at any time, rather than going through the usual not-until-three-days-in-advance jig that forces you into long and repeated trips to the box office.
So the first day I went to get tickets (the day I waited on line more than two hours!) I went ahead and grabbed not one but two shows for the last festival day. I'm not entirely sure how I ended up with "Nader and Simin" - I don't even usually bother with the films in the main competition, preferring the more independent and experimental festival sections instead, but I guess a movie from Iran sounded interesting and relevant.
It wasn't until I was on my way there with a friend that we saw on the little subway TV news screen that... "Nader and Simin" just won the Berlinale award, the Golden Bear. Oh. Hey. That's the one we're going to see! And indeed, we got there and the entrance to the movie theater was crowded with people holding up signs, hoping someone would have last-minute tickets to sell.
I wish I could say the movie was amazing; actually it was by far my least favorite of the four festival films I saw. The topic was certainly interesting and important (about life in Iran, and partly examining the yawning divide between educated, secular Iranians and people from the religious working class). I just thought the director could have done a much, much better job with the material - the movie was very slow and repetitive and hardly any of the characters were likeable enough to make you want to keep watching them despite the slowness.
But then again, nobody ever said the Berlinale judges picked their winners based on artistic merit... and with a jury that's one member short because it was supposed to include a filmmaker who's now in jail in Iran, you can see why they might have wanted to make a point with their selection.
All in all, I'm still glad I saw "Nader and Simin" - I definitely learned something about Iran (which is a big part of the point of such an international festival for me) and it was pretty cool, just the once, to be at the big-deal movie everyone wanted to see.
Friday, February 18, 2011
10:36 p.m.
10:36 p.m. on the M10 tram from Friedrichshain to Prenzlauer Berg: Two young women, one clutching an entire bottle of vodka, the other with an equally sizeable bottle of tequila and a plastic mesh bag of lemons.
I'm heading home from dinner with friends in the western part of Berlin, but for these girls, the night is clearly just beginning.
I'm heading home from dinner with friends in the western part of Berlin, but for these girls, the night is clearly just beginning.
Berlinale I
Seen so far:
"Tomboy," a French film about a 10-year-old girl named Laure who is, well, a tomboy. Or somewhere on the spectrum between tomboy and transgendered, but too young to really tell.
When her family moves and she starts over with a new neighborhood of kids, she gets the chance to reinvent herself as a boy, introducing herself as "Mikael." The story is basically about whether she can keep up the pretense and how the other kids will react when, inevitably, they find out the truth.
Aside from the girl's parents, all the actors in the film were young kids, and they were impressive.
"Dom," or "The House," a Czech/Slovak co-production (oh! Czech! Slovak! some of my many favorite languages!) This might fall under the category of slow-paced films that get described with words like "contemplative," but I enjoyed it. It's the story of a hard-headed, old-fashioned father, who's determined to build a house in their village for his daughter to live in, and his young, modern daughter, who definitely does not want to live in that house. In fact, she wants nothing more than to leave Slovakia for London.
The story of generational conflict and parents' dreams for their children not matching the childrens' reality was pretty universal, but one thing the director mentioned in the Q&A after the show was that this conflict expressing itself specifically through building a house was typical of Slovakia, where a whole generation grew up under Communism, unable to travel, and the only place they could channel their creative energy and dreams for their families was into construction.
Still to come: "Romeos," which sounds like fun, and an Iranian film that sounded really interesting until I read the extra bit of description that wasn't in my program, something about a "terrible tragedy." Oops. The Berlinale tends to swing toward heavy topics anyway, so it's usually a good idea to avoid the ones that straight up say they'll depress you. Oh well, at least it will be interesting!
"Tomboy," a French film about a 10-year-old girl named Laure who is, well, a tomboy. Or somewhere on the spectrum between tomboy and transgendered, but too young to really tell.
When her family moves and she starts over with a new neighborhood of kids, she gets the chance to reinvent herself as a boy, introducing herself as "Mikael." The story is basically about whether she can keep up the pretense and how the other kids will react when, inevitably, they find out the truth.
Aside from the girl's parents, all the actors in the film were young kids, and they were impressive.
"Dom," or "The House," a Czech/Slovak co-production (oh! Czech! Slovak! some of my many favorite languages!) This might fall under the category of slow-paced films that get described with words like "contemplative," but I enjoyed it. It's the story of a hard-headed, old-fashioned father, who's determined to build a house in their village for his daughter to live in, and his young, modern daughter, who definitely does not want to live in that house. In fact, she wants nothing more than to leave Slovakia for London.
The story of generational conflict and parents' dreams for their children not matching the childrens' reality was pretty universal, but one thing the director mentioned in the Q&A after the show was that this conflict expressing itself specifically through building a house was typical of Slovakia, where a whole generation grew up under Communism, unable to travel, and the only place they could channel their creative energy and dreams for their families was into construction.
Still to come: "Romeos," which sounds like fun, and an Iranian film that sounded really interesting until I read the extra bit of description that wasn't in my program, something about a "terrible tragedy." Oops. The Berlinale tends to swing toward heavy topics anyway, so it's usually a good idea to avoid the ones that straight up say they'll depress you. Oh well, at least it will be interesting!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Reindeer in the Museum
This is me with one-twelfth of the reindeer population in the current exhibit "Soma" at the Hamburger Bahnhof museum.
Photo courtesy of Brett's cell phone.
Photo courtesy of Brett's cell phone.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Some (Good) Things Never Change
Indeed, you can always impress visitors to Berlin by taking them to the ping-pong bar.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
And Speaking of Culture
Two days till the Berlinale!
For a person who sees movies so rarely the rest of the year, I get surprisingly excited about this film festival. It's a fun thing to be a part of - all these films and filmmakers from all over the world convening in little old Berlin. The big name stars and the Hollywood blockbusters that come along with a major festival seem sort of incidental to me; I'm generally interested in the international stuff, the independent stuff, the stuff you wouldn't come across otherwise.
Good thing about the Berlinale: It's one major film festival (maybe the only?) that's well and truly open to the public - most screenings cost just 8 euros. Kids' films cost 3 euros. And there's a "cinema day" on the last day of the festival where everything is even cheaper.
Bad thing about the Berlinale: The ticket sales system was invented by sadists. There is no other explanation for it. There are three ticket offices for the entire city; the one near me has only two people working. Think about it for a second - at any given time, there can be hundreds of people who want to buy tickets; there are two people selling them. I actually know folks here who take this week off work, because between seeing films and buying the tickets for them, the Berlinale is a full-time commitment.
I swore to myself, I really did, that this year, I wouldn't make myself crazy with the Berlinale. I swore it. But I already put in more than two hours on the ticket line yesterday (each festival day's tickets are released three days before, so I went on Monday to get tickets for Thursday). When I went again today to get tickets for Friday and only had to spend half an hour waiting, I was over the moon.
Let the filmgoing commence!
For a person who sees movies so rarely the rest of the year, I get surprisingly excited about this film festival. It's a fun thing to be a part of - all these films and filmmakers from all over the world convening in little old Berlin. The big name stars and the Hollywood blockbusters that come along with a major festival seem sort of incidental to me; I'm generally interested in the international stuff, the independent stuff, the stuff you wouldn't come across otherwise.
Good thing about the Berlinale: It's one major film festival (maybe the only?) that's well and truly open to the public - most screenings cost just 8 euros. Kids' films cost 3 euros. And there's a "cinema day" on the last day of the festival where everything is even cheaper.
Bad thing about the Berlinale: The ticket sales system was invented by sadists. There is no other explanation for it. There are three ticket offices for the entire city; the one near me has only two people working. Think about it for a second - at any given time, there can be hundreds of people who want to buy tickets; there are two people selling them. I actually know folks here who take this week off work, because between seeing films and buying the tickets for them, the Berlinale is a full-time commitment.
I swore to myself, I really did, that this year, I wouldn't make myself crazy with the Berlinale. I swore it. But I already put in more than two hours on the ticket line yesterday (each festival day's tickets are released three days before, so I went on Monday to get tickets for Thursday). When I went again today to get tickets for Friday and only had to spend half an hour waiting, I was over the moon.
Let the filmgoing commence!
Wonderfully Weird Art
Yup, I think I've fulfilled my quota of wonderfully weird, absolutely absurd, superbly strange art for the week.
There's an exhibit called "Soma" on at the Hamburger Bahnhof (a contemporary art museum; nothing to do with hamburgers). It's set up in the museum's huge main hall and consists of... reindeer. Twelve reindeer. Live ones.
There are also twenty-four canaries, eight mice, two houseflies... all arranged around the space in symmetrical halves. It's supposedly an attempt to recreate soma, a psychedelic drink mentioned in ancient Hindu texts, by feeding psychoactive toadstools to the reindeer and collecting their urine. Yes. And truly adventurous (and wealthy) art lovers can even spend the night in the museum, on a raised bed between the two reindeer pens, for 1,000 euros a night.
I went to the exhibit with an American friend who used to live in Berlin and was back visiting; we had fun puzzling over the strangeness of modern art and boggling at the idea that someone actually funded this (though at 1,000 euros a night to sleep in the exhibit and with the entire run already booked up, maybe the whole thing kind of pays for itself?) but at the end of the day, we had to admit we were happy to be in a country that's big on funding the arts.
(Incidentally, there are of course doubts about whether the reindeer are actually being fed poisonous mushrooms - the website does describe it as a "hypothetical experiment.")
There's an exhibit called "Soma" on at the Hamburger Bahnhof (a contemporary art museum; nothing to do with hamburgers). It's set up in the museum's huge main hall and consists of... reindeer. Twelve reindeer. Live ones.
There are also twenty-four canaries, eight mice, two houseflies... all arranged around the space in symmetrical halves. It's supposedly an attempt to recreate soma, a psychedelic drink mentioned in ancient Hindu texts, by feeding psychoactive toadstools to the reindeer and collecting their urine. Yes. And truly adventurous (and wealthy) art lovers can even spend the night in the museum, on a raised bed between the two reindeer pens, for 1,000 euros a night.
I went to the exhibit with an American friend who used to live in Berlin and was back visiting; we had fun puzzling over the strangeness of modern art and boggling at the idea that someone actually funded this (though at 1,000 euros a night to sleep in the exhibit and with the entire run already booked up, maybe the whole thing kind of pays for itself?) but at the end of the day, we had to admit we were happy to be in a country that's big on funding the arts.
(Incidentally, there are of course doubts about whether the reindeer are actually being fed poisonous mushrooms - the website does describe it as a "hypothetical experiment.")
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)