jürgen fauth’s muckworld

When I first visited Berlin (West) as a wide-eyed teenager, one of the highlights of the trip was running into Einstürzende Neubauten singer Blixa Bargeld in the back room of a shady Kreuzberg bar. Blixa, Alexander Hacke, and the rest of the Neubauten are still making beautiful noise, and watching their 2004 video Palast der Republik, I was happy to get reacquainted with Haus der Lüge, a catchy tune I’ve been singing on all the elevators in town.

Gott hat sich erschossen / ein Dachgeschoss wird ausgebaut!

Another excitement-free video, cobbled together from footage shot around Berlin-Mitte last September. Next time, I’ll put some more people in it.

In no particular order: the guys from Babel, David Hudson of GreenCine Daily, Mama und Papa, the friendly proprietor of Absinthe Depot, Andew “Filmbrain” Grant, Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger, Danny Kasman, Martin Scorsese, Charlie Watts, and a selection of medival statues from the Bode Museum, which you can also find in a flickr set that prompted my favorite flickr mail ever:

:: hi

I add you ass contact because I’m interessting about a trip
in germany and by your photo you make my day …….Ich bein
er berliner the Holy Germanic Empire’s rising again by your
art

Well then. From last year’s visit, more photos from the Bode and other Berlin museums.

I made it back to New York and just posted my final Berlinale piece on About.com. Below is a list of all Journal entries as well as an overview of the thirty-odd movies I saw.

Also: the official Berlinale site has video from the There Will Be Blood press conference — around 40 minutes in, you can watch me ask Paul Thomas Anderson about “I drink your milkshake!” I sure wish there was a wide shot of the podium so we could see Daniel Day-Lewis giving me the thumbs up, but it’s a nice record anyway. The site has been featured all over the web as well as in USA Today and Entertainment Weekly, but this was my favorite milkshake moment by far.

Berlinale Journal

• Berlinale Journal, Day 1
• Berlinale Journal, Day 2
• Berlinale Journal, Day 3
• Berlinale Journal, Days 4 &5
• Berlinale Journal, Day 6
• Berlinale Journal, Day 7
• Berlinale Journal, Days 8 & 9
• Berlinale Journal: The Awards
• Berlinale Journal, Wrap-Up

Films Covered, Sorted by Rating

1. United Red Army. Wakamatsu Koji, 2007. ****
2. Night and Day. Hong Sang-soo, 2008. ****
3. Megane. Naoko Ogigami, 2007, ****
4. Jesus Christ Savior. Peter Geyer, 2008. ****
5. Sparrow. Johnny To, 2008. ****
6. Wonderful Town. Aditya Assarat, 2007. ****
7. Quiet Chaos. Antonio Luigi Grimaldi, 2008. ****
8. Black Ice. Petri Kotwica, 2007. *** 1/2
9. Julia. Erick Zonca, 2007. *** 1/2
10. Another Love Story. Lúcia Murat, 2007. *** 1/2
11. Auge in Auge. Michael Althen and Hans Helmut Prinzler, 2008. *** 1/2
12. Transsiberian. Brad Anderson, 2008. *** 1/2
13. Gegenschuss. Dominik Wessely, 2008. ***
14. Heavy Metal in Baghdad. Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti, 2007. ***
15. I’ve Loved You So Long. Philippe Claudel, 2008. ***
16. Katyn. Andrzeij Wajda, 2007. ***
17. Filth and Wisdom. Madonna, 2008. ***
18. Be Kind Rewind. Michel Gondry, 2008. ***
19. Chiko. Özgür Yildirim, 2008. ***
20. Happy-Go-Lucky. Mike Leigh, 2008. ***
21. Lake Tahoe. Fernando Eimbcke, 2008. ***
22. Standard Operating Procedure. Errol Morris, 2008. ***
23. Gardens of the Night Damian Harris, 2007. ***
24. Elegy. Isabel Coixet, 2008. ***
25. Kirschblüten - Hanami. Dorris Dörrie, 2008. **
26. The Other Boleyn Girl. Justin Chadwick, 2008. **
27. Shine a Light. Martin Scorsese, 2008. **
28. Lady Jane. Robert Guédiguian, 2008. **
29. Shiver. Isidro Ortiz, 2008. **
30. In Love We Trust. Wang Xiaoshuai, 2007. **
31. Ballast. Lance Hammer, 2008. *
32. Beautiful. Jaihong Juhn, 2008. *
33. Elite Squad. José Padilha, 2007 *
34. Coupable. Laetitia Masson, 2008. N/R
35. Asyl -Park and Love Hotel. Kumasaka Izuru, 2007. N/R
36. Restless. Amos Kollek, 2008. N/R
37. Leo. Josef Fares, 2007. N/R
38. Divizionz. Yes! That’s Us, 2007. N/R
39. Yasukuni. Li Ying, 2007. N/R

I’m is happy to report that Madonna’s directorial debut Filth and Wisdom, premiering at the Berlin Film Festival, isn’t bad at all. Eugene Hutz of the gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello stars as a struggling London musician. Also, Antonio Luigi Grimaldi’s moving comedy of grief Quiet Chaos, Robert Guediguian’s misfire Lady Jane, and Naoko Ogigami’s lovely Megune (Glasses).

Read Day 7 of my Berlinale Journal.

Mike Leigh’s Happy Go Lucky had critics buzzing, but I found myself shut out of the screening at the Berlinale Palast. Instead, I caught another worthy contender for the Golden Bear: Korean auteur’s Hong Sang-soo’s Night and Day. Later in the day, Errol Morris presented the first-ever documentary to screen in competition in Berlin, the Abu Ghraib investigation Standard Operating Procedure. I capped the day with the Gospel According to Klaus Kinski, as documented in Peter Geyer’s Jesus Christ Savior.

Read day 6 of my Berlinale Journal.

The latest installment of my increasingly delirious Berlinale Journal is up, covering Elegy, Kirschblueten, Elite Squad, Heavy Metal in Baghdad, Sparrow, and United Red Army. Writing it cost me the screening of Mike Leigh’s Happy Go Lucky, now a favorite for the Golden Bear — hopefully, I can catch a repeat. Since then, I’ve seen Hong Sangsoo’s Night and Day (****), Errol Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure (***), an absinthe-fueled screening of the Kinski doc Jesus Christus Erloeser (****), and Madonna’s Filth and Wisdom (a very surprising ***). Stay tuned for more.

Homewrecking karate teachers, hard-partying Finns, and two thumbs up from Daniel Day-Lewis: I’m having a fine time at the Berlin Film Festival. My latest update, sent from woefully sparse wifi hotspots between marathon screenings and hurried curry sausage meals, covers six more movies: Black Ice, Auge in Auge, Shiver, Gardens of the Night, Chiko, and Transsiberian.

Read Berlinale Journal, Day 3 on About.com.