B for Berlin

I'm sitting in a bar in Berlin on my laptop, readying to attend my final screening of the Berlinale and head to Torino tomorrow. I'm feeling sad that the filmfest experience is about to end, even though I'm really looking forward to the Olympics.

I started out this morning at a screening of "Dave Chappelle's Block Party," a documentary about a concert Chappelle staged in Brooklyn that included Kanye West, Mos Def, The Fugees, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and other rap/R&B performers. That's not my normal music, and the film makes an effort to reach out to people like me by showing others who are obviously unfamiliar with the music attending the concert, and I ended up really enjoying it. Chappelle is truly a funny guy, but there are glimpses of the "sad clown" that hint at his later experience with a mini-breakdown. He makes some interesting points about the juxtaposition between music and comedy. The film was extremely sparsely attended - I guess it wasn't highbrow enough for the Euro audience.

Afterward I met a Wake Forest film prof for an interview that I hope will be in Arts or Arts/Living or whatever the heck we're calling it this weekend. Then I managed to meet my friend Craig from Duke for lunch - he's all the way across Berlin and I'm getting mighty tired of hoofing my laptop to so many train platforms, an experience that will probably only get worse in Torino. Carrying it makes my shoulders so sore I have to do yoga stretches every morning just to get out of bed.

I made it back in time for a screening of "V for Vendetta," which opens in the U.S. soon. It stars Natalie Portman and a guy in a goofy-looking mask he never takes off (actually the baddie agent from "The Matrix.") It's a near-future sci-fi movie that sounds a loud warning about the threats to civil liberties our current anti-terrorism regime poses. I have a feeling the U.S. critics won't be kind and it may not make much money, but I'd recommend seeing it. I found it entertaining and thought-provoking in the vein of "Day After Tomorrow," which combined an environmental message with really cool special effects, only this one is more serious and more well-done. Then I headed to the press conference afterward, where I caught Portman and the rest of the cast from the front row (she shaves her head in the movie and still has really short hair, and just like Lindsey Lohan she faced questions about her hairstyle - she says she's always wanted to shave her head. Hmmm.)

Tonight I finally get to see Lohan's movie (oh yeah, Meryl Streep's in it too). I hope blog access remains predictable in Torino!