Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

August 11, 2005
In the office:

Last night I sampled the Frankfurt Fantasy Filmfest, a smallish specialty festival focusing on thrillers, horror and sci-fi. The opening film will be released in the U.S. on September 16 – “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” starring Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer. It’s a blend of thriller, comedy and film noir. My take: Hilarious, and highly entertaining. Critics probably will say it got too caught up in its own cleverness or something, but I say just go see it.

It continues to amaze me that Frankfurt is roughly the same size as Charlotte (about 600,000 in the city limits, 1 million metro area), but manages to be so much more urban and lively. Things like having its own film festival – with the size of the film community in Charlotte, there’s no excuse for not having one. And public transit – I know the Germans were taxed heavily for the privilege, but it’s amazing how extensive the train, bus and tram systems are. In Charlotte we’ve sweated so much to start building one pitiful little light-rail line. The Main river through the city is beautiful – in Charlotte we had water running through downtown, and we paved it over and put in Marshall Park. And the museums are astounding here.

I’ve heard a few folks complain that they don’t think the people in Frankfurt are very friendly, but that hasn’t been my experience. Last night I took the wrong street leaving the movie theater (those familiar with the Eschenheimer Tor intersection won’t be surprised) and was looking at my city map when a woman stopped to ask if I needed help finding my way. And a guy in the movie theater could tell I hadn't understood the German introduction to the film, so he leaned over and explained it to to me. Everyone has been very kind when I’ve tried out my halting German. Thus far, Frankfurt’s getting two thumbs up from me.