At this very moment the legendary Bar 25 is celebrating its final party weekend. For those of you who are having a hard time saying goodbye the movie Berlin Calling might offer some consolation because it features some scenes shot in your favorite open air club at the Spree. On Wednesday we went to the Berlin premiere of the movie at the Kulturbrauerei to find out how authentic this portrait of Berlin’s club scene really is. Our nightlife correspondent Jens wrote an exclusive review about the movie that you will find after the jump, along with more photos.
So far almost every attempt to show the nightlife of Berlin in a movie has been a pitiful failure. Obviously the directors, script writers and actors had no clue of their topic. Just watch one episode of the Candy Girls show on MySpace. This marketing tool created by MySpace in order to draw more attention to its German website is nothing but embarrassing.
Berlin Calling is much different to that. The new movie by director Hannes Stöhr is all about authenticity. Never before has techno club culture been shown in a movie with so much credibility. That’s mostly due to main actor Paul Kalkbrenner, who is a techno DJ in real life as well.
Unfortunately Berlin Calling hasn’t got much to offer beside street creditability. The plot is rather simple and can be told quickly: Berlin based electro composer Martin (Paul Kalkbrenner), aka DJ Ickarus, tours the world with his manager and girlfriend Mathilde (Rita Lengyel). He is just about to release his new album, which he hopes to give him great success. But after he takes a bad ecstasy pill at a performance, he finds himself in a psychiatric clinic, from which he escapes several times to go partying.
The story of a genius, but somehow insane musician coping with drug problems and other personal issues is not new at all. It has been told over and over again. Berlin Calling adds nothing new to that story. In fact, the movie is quite shallow. Berlin Calling is not a great piece of art; it is harmless, light and pleasing entertainment. Without the impressive party scenes and the terrific soundtrack it would be a movie easy to forget.
Text: Jens
