27 movies in 10 days, thinking of this number makes me think of that one time we watched 12 movies in 24 hours. It was a rather special event and bumped up my movie consumption that year by a whole lot. In fact, we pretty much fell asleep through the last two films and I realize that I could never do it again. I am not even 30 years old but I know of things I could never do anymore! Sad.
I feel similar about the Berlinale, except that I wish I could do this every year now.
About one month after it happened, I look at it with fond memories, but I already see that they are less vivid than when it happened. In retrospect, things always turn out differently. Things we think made a huge emotional impact on our lives ended up not doing so, and vice versa. I thought that having gotten into a near-death car accident would change my life, but it didn’t. I thought that going through the intense pain of giving birth would change my life, but it didn’t. I thought that seeing so many inspiring films at the Berlinale would change my life, but it didn’t. I am Don Draper, I can’t become any better.
Even so, this year’s Berlinale was something I felt very strongly about for awhile. Going to movie theaters with friends is probably my favorite activity in the world, closely followed by discussing those movies right afterwards. For instance, Shii made a good point about how unusual the premise of “Ship Bun” is. I was immensely happy that Shii could come, and even though he missed out on a few good films (Bai Ri Yan Huo, Velvet Terrorists, Kraftidioten, Nymphomaniac, Chiisai Ouchi, The Midnight After) I think the days when Shii was there were definitely the best ones. To me, the smell of movie theaters is only surpassed by the smell of operas, and I love the reactions from the audience, especially the laughter in comedies. It all happened in this year’s Berlinale, and besides the cheap price it’s the reason why I go to the Berlinale in the first place.
The single most exciting event was probably watching “Calvary” in the Zoo Palast. Not only was the movie theater a revelation, we also were absolutely lucky to get in and, well, I got that autograph which made the whole movie theater stare at me for a few minutes. This kind of chain of fortuitous events typically does not happen to me.
The worst aspect of the Berlinale is the lack of sleep. Besides taking care of O at night, there were many nights when we got home at 1am or even later, and there were three days where I had a 9am or 9.30am screening. I can’t believe I survived it all without going crazy, or perhaps I have gone a little crazy, but more like in a drunken kind of way. When I am tired, I feel things more intensely and during the Berlinale those feelings were definitely on the positive side. I definitely think it helped feeling the films more intensely.
Finally, a few statistics, detailing how often we went to a certain venue, how many films we saw from each country and each section. The saddest thing is that we couldn’t see a single film at the International, but maybe we will catch “The Grand Budapest Hotel” there! That would be great.
Cinemas
CinemaxX – 6
Zeughauskino – 5
Friedrichstadt-Palast – 5
Cubix – 3
Zoo Palast – 2
Delphi – 2
Berlinale Palast – 2
Arsenal – 1
CineStar – 1
Haus der Berliner Festspiele – 1
Countries
Japan – 8
France – 5
Germany – 4
Hongkong – 3
China – 3
USA – 3
Sweden – 2
Denmark – 2
Korea – 1
Austria – 1
Ireland/UK – 1
Czech Republic/Slovakia/Croatia – 1
Norway – 1
Brazil – 1
Belgium – 1
Sections
Retrospective/Classics – 8
Competition – 7
Panorama – 5
Forum – 4
Generation – 1
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