A decade of West Berlin subculture in original footage, breathtakingly edited – telling a story of the city during the last decade before the end of the Cold War.
Director: Jörg A. Hoppe, Heiko Lange, Klaus Maeck, Miriam Dehne, b/w and colour, 92 min., 2014/15
When a bar is called Risiko (“Risk”) and the lead singer of Einstürzende Neubauten, Blixa Bargeld, is serving drinks behind the bar, then you know you’ve gone back to one of Berlin’s best periods – West Berlin’s best period, at least. Other protagonists from that era between post-modern, no future and the Geniale Dilletanten (“Ingenious Amateurs“ – the name was intentionally written incorrectly in German!) were – sometimes as the leads, sometimes as supporting actors – the serious Nick Cave, who collects “German Gothic” art on the walls of his room in a Berlin flat, the cool Gudrun Gut (from the band Malaria), who stands in front of the scene’s hotspot, the Dschungel, and lists clubs one can (or even must) go to after 2 a.m. There’s Die Tödliche Doris, who sing in the midst of the wasteland in the Western part of Potsdamer Platz. And other characters between the Wall and the firewalls, between the old and new buildings: Heino, Christiane F., Nena, Die Toten Hosen, Martin Kippenberger and Die Ärzte. Plus Tilda Swinton and Keith Haring. And Westbam, who arrived on the scene a little too late and was a real greenhorn at the time, before he became one of the godfathers of the Love Parade.
The British musician, label owner and military fetishist Mark Reeder from Manchester had a fascination for electronic music (Tangerine Dream), which brought him to Berlin at the end of the 70s. Apparently – and luckily! – everything he experienced was filmed. Mark Reeder is the host and presenter of this journey back into dilapidated West Berlin at the end of the Cold War. B-MOVIE: LUST & SOUND IN WEST-BERLIN (1979 – 1989) is not so much a documentary as it is a refined account compiled from documentary material, agreeably put together by Jörg A. Hoppe, Klaus Maeck and Heiko Lange and made into a new whole. A high-grade, subjective declaration of love and, at the same time, a surprisingly cartographic feat that is rich in material. A warm reunion with oneself for all those who were there. And positively mind-expanding for all those who moved to Berlin and claim they now know where the party’s at, or even that Berlin didn’t start being hip until 1990.
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