Berlin Calling

The movie is dynamic, full of emotions and wonderful electronic music. It is definitely not a movie about Berlin party scene, Berlin is the backdrop of the movie.

Club scene is associated with drugs, but it is not a movie about drugs either. Yes the main character is a drug addict DJ who has mental issues but the movie is not Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, neither One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.

The movie explores the life of an artist, his choices, his abysmal loneliness, creativity and above all his relations to other people.

Even though there are some occasional character zigzags, the movie wanders in our emotions in a beautiful way.

I have seen the movie during If Film Festival in Istanbul and regretted that I had missed the performance of DJ Paul Kalkbrenner ten days ago.

"Berlin Calling" is not a documentary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, that would be "Berlin Falling". Nor is it a documentary on the 80's New Wave extraordinaire band Berlin (smell a severe case of "biasism" since it is my all-time favorite band), that would be "Berlin Hailing". The "Berlin Calling" I am referring to is the powerful independent German film "Berlin Calling". Professional Trance Music Disc Jockey Paul Kalkbrenner stars as D.J. Ickarus, a passionate & talented German trance spinning musician who also spins too many methamphetamines, hallucinogens, and narcotics in his daily social tunes. D.J. Ickarus drug-addiction downfall lands him in a Berlin psychiatric center, which Ickarus finds too icky for his taste. Ickarus does cause havoc in the psychiatric center a la Jack Nicholson's character in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". Rita Lengyel effectively plays Mathilde, Ickarus' devoted but gradually frustrated girlfriend who tries excessively to help Ick get out of the icky ills of his drug addiction while at the same trying to salvage his career. Corinna Harfouch psyches up her acting portraying Professor Dr. Detra Paul, the authoritative psychiatric center director who is a cross between Nurse Hatchett and Dr. Phil. She feels that Ickarus is a danger to others and possibly himself so therefore she pulls her own mental control spins on him. Kalkbrenner's performance as Ickarus was mind-boggling and put me in a trance of acting endowment. Moreover, the multi-talented Kalkbrenner's musical trance mixes caused me to want to get on "The Metro" and go "Dancing In Berlin" in Kalkbrenner's Tranceylvannia village! Writer-Director Hannes Stohr has many compelling and masterful plot lines & visuals stored for you in his imaginative film-making orchestration of "Berlin Calling". An innovative narrative of the music trance environment captured in film-making has been long overdue. I was elated that Hannes had the upper hand in its origination! "Berlin Calling" also called to my attention its chart-topping cinematography, art direction, and of course musical score. Hannes' "Berlin Calling" screenplay was also quite a comedic but yet gripping one that did not need "No More Words" to be regarded wordy adequate. I did have the pleasure to experience "Berlin Calling" at The Miami International Film Festival in March 2009. Hopefully, a film studio distributor will sign up the film so everyone could be in the mix to the surreal cinematic art form of the brilliant "Berlin Calling". ***** Excellent

Saw this movie on the 7th of September 2008 in Toronto at the exclusive North American screening of the film. The film was not chosen to be a part of the Toronto International Film Festival; very surprised as to why (extensive use of drugs?).

The story line was not incredible complex but the acting was absolutely magnificent. Further if you have been a clubber in a hardcore sense of the word you would be able to relate to the movie in a much stronger way. Up till now my top clubbing movie was "It's All Gone Pete Tong"; this movie is a 100 times stronger in a dramatic sense and much more interesting to follow.

The crowed loved the movie and had applauded it and the director at the end of the film.

I am very picky when it comes to movies, but this one for me was definitely a hit! I would go as far as stating that this is one of my favorite movies of the year! This movie is reminiscent of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

I reckon this is not really my scene, my "hood" to put it that way. But whoever wrote this and whoever did this, they seem to know what they are trying to convey. With movies like these, it is easy to fall back onto cliches and make it easy for oneself. But this feels as authentic as it can be. The performances help too, which is not always a given with low budget movies.

Intense scenes may require you to take a moment to really digest them. But it's not just drama, there is comedy and humor in this too. Although strange humor of course. I had heard of this movie from friends before and if you are into the music especially this will elevate the whole thing even further I reckon. And of course it will deplete completely if you don't like the music too

Does a movie need to provide answers or is some room for interpretation sometimes the better choice? Berlin Calling does not take the bait to occupy the moral high ground. Instead it is an authentic movie about the music and party scene in Berlin, including its „dark side": drugs.

In a way this movie does not have a beginning and no end, it is an ultimate extract of life – life in the electronic music scene in Berlin.

The pace of the story is fast, almost like the rhythm of the electronic beats - an awesome soundtrack. Berlin Calling is authentic and entertaining movie with great acting and fantastic directing.

The movie feels „(a)live" and to followers of electronic music this is a definite must-see. The only criticism that Berlin Calling may have to accept is that self-experiencing the Berlin party scene may still be better.