Berlin Calling

Berlin Calling is an excellent movie. I was engaged by it for the whole movie and it was a style of movie I hadn’t seen for a while. One thing I noticed that was different about the movie compared to what I’ve seen is the club scene. In the movie Ickarus is an electronic artist, this is a genre picking up speed in the US but we are still behind Germany when it comes to making it party music. The atmosphere seems to be similar to the US, I don’t go to clubs like the one in the movie but you often here about what happens at clubs in big cities comparable to the us and it seems like they have that in common. As far as topics in the movie something that jumped out at me was the sexual nature of the movie. Here in the US I imagine the general public would bash the movie for its sexual nature, but these same people would not wag a finger had Ickarus been in a drug deal gone bad, causing Ickarus to accrue a body count. It seems like in the US sex is off limits but violence isn’t. I was pleasantly surprised the movie didn’t have the typical drug related violence that is in our movies, it did how ever have contemporary issues like domestic abuse between Ickarus and Mathilde, so the movie wasn’t inherently innocent. It was a very good movie and the best one we’ve seen so far.

1. Drugs offer Ickarus an escape. I mean this in two different ways. Early, he uses drugs as an escape to relax. His friend comes and gives him drugs, he passes out and Mathilde wakes him up later. Drugs also offer him an escape which Ickarus thinks causes him to escape his mind and become creative. This notion of drugs amplifying his creativity isn't true because he produces his best music sober in the clinic.
2. You see his fans taking cocaine frequently. Usually they take drugs to ramp up for a party. Ickarus himself takes cocaine, his friend brings it to his apartment, and he has it in the park restroom with one of his groupies, in most cases the drugs are taken to "have a party." 
3. I talked about before how drugs give Ickarus an escape. Alot of parties and drinking happens on weekends and nights. Fans and Ickarus use drugs and parting as a release after work and so forth. Drugs let them live the fast life loaded with parting and having a good time. Alot of the users take drugs to get high which makes the parties more fun, which is what they are seeking.
4. I don't do drugs, I'll occasionally drink with friends but what happens in the movie is a pretty alien experience to me. Generally, it's the standard around my friends and myself to maintain a control on the situation, not letting yourself go to far. This doesn't happen in the movie, in the movie people go until they are forced to stop, not necessarily when they should. I feel as if that is the largest difference when it comes to recreational drugs.
5. I think that the youth growing up in the movie could experience life without trying to ground themselves, taking responsibilities and so forth. The fans are living for the moment. I was told once about a pain and pleasure system which we use to decide what to do. It's alot harder to decide to put in considerable effort to achieve success (pleasure), while it is comparatively easy to seek pleasure first, because it's what the end goal is. Choosing pleasure first leads to pain because of the time lost etc. I think this can be applied to the youth culture in the movie where they seem to have no disregard for what happens when parting is over. Ickarus learns the hard way that he has to stick through his pain of treatment and not getting high, to achieve pleasure through the success of his album. 
6. The plot of, guy has it all - guy looses everything - guy struggles to get back on his feet - guy achieves his goal and wins back the girl, is a plot I've seen time and times again. That being said I can't think of a movie that tells the story in the way that this one does, which is good.