Hacker Cinema
Berlin Calling
2008 · Film · 105 min
Directed by Hannes Stöhr
A man tours clubs around the globe with his manager and girlfriend. On the eve of their largest album release he is admitted to a psychiatric clinic after overdosing at a gig.
2 positive1 mixedfrom 3 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
3 comments on Hacker News
I noticed this when I watched "Raw" recently [0]. It was remarkable because it portrayed horny young students hazing each other and desiring each other and plenty of unselfconscious peer pressuring, which was itself depicted as covertly appreciated and desired by the girls, by way of a license to let go and have fun for a night (like how people often blame alcohol). I kept waiting for the turn or the emotional beat that called out these heinous, sexist, abusive behaviors, but it never came. I noticed something similar when watching Berlin Calling [1] where sex is used in several realistic ways, as both exciting transgression to expressing warmth, friendship and love. Raw is French; Berlin Calling German.
Americans still deal with a great deal of Puritanical shame around sex, I think, and as a very fat country (the fattest ever to exist) where huge numbers are on SSRIs (with sexual side-effects) plus a divisive political climate, you get Disney Marvel sexuality.
BTW if you think Disney doesn't do horny, think again. I mean, look at the "love story" in any classic animated picture. She looks at him, thinks he's hot, he looks at her, he thinks she's hot, and it's on. In at least two cases (Sleeping Beauty and Snow White) that's "love's first kiss" that's given non-consentually -- and his transgression literally saves her life. The older I get the more I realize that this naive notion of what love is actually is the core of truth; the rest of what we add is risk mitigation. In big budget American cinema, the surest way to eliminate risk is to do exactly what they've done. They aren't stupid.
0 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raw_(film)
1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Calling
Ok, here are some good German movies just from the top of my head:
- The Lives of Others
- The Tin Drum
- Goodbye Lenin!
- Downfall
- The Edukators
- Berlin Calling
- Benny’s Video
I can't help but think of the movie Berlin Calling, where Paul Kalkbrenner is producing techno while he's staying in a mental hospital: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nekCz2mg4zM
On the topic of the Georgian rave scene: the BBC also did a great segment on the raid of Bassiani and the subsequent protests: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-44999599/georgia-s-rave-revolution
And we can't forget the massive anti-fascist rave in Berlin just recently: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/27/thousands-from-far-right-and-berlins-techno-scene-face-off-in-rival-rallies
I'm not sure what it is about raving that brings people together, but it brings people of all ages, genders, sexual orientations, classes, and races together. I've never found such an inclusive subculture as the rave scene. Even in Palestine (https://www.residentadvisor.net/features/3231) and Iran (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44777677). It's more than just the music, or the party, or the drugs, it's a philosophy of peace and inclusiveness. And I guess that's why people risk so much for it, suffering beatings and jail just to dance.
I bloody love it.