I didn't expect this to be such a good movie. Although I found this movie searching for club/rave movies, this is much more than that. At some points one could find similarities with the themes of "One flew over the cuckoo's nest": sanity and psychiatric institutions is defiantly one narrative theme.This film has great music too and I never got bored. I guess I should have rated it with an 8/10; but I was surprised by the quality of it. If you compare it of course with movies of Tarkovsky, Kubrick or Bergman of course it does not stand a chance, but for sure it is better than most mainstream American made movies.

"Berlin Calling" is a German 110-minute movie from 7 years ago. Writer and director is Hannes Stöhr and it is probably his most famous work until today. I also saw his more recent "Global Player" and definitely preferred that one. "Berlin Calling" takes us into the world of electronic music focusing on DJ Ickarus, played by the successful artist Paul Kalbrenner. However, I was not impressed. He certainly is not a trained actor and I cannot take this film seriously from that perspective. There were several really intense scene, but they all left me rather uninterested, especially those about the main character's drug abuse, basically from start to finish. The actress who plays his girlfriend was as bad as the one who played the lesbian relationship. No idea what they were thinking with this sub-plot. Probably grasping for straws in terms of including sex to lure people into theatres. It probably would have helped if they had at least been attractive.No idea why this film has such a good reception and why a decent actress like Corinna Harfouch would appear in here. This was not an amateurish-looking effort, but also not a particularly good one. In my case, it probably doesn't help either that I really do not care for electronic music, one of my least favorite genres. Very forgettable film, in which I never felt for the character. Not recommended.

I have to be honest, this film is realistic but for all the wrong reasons. Yes, the music is fantastic; yes, the venues are authentic (or appear that way). But I have met and befriended about half a dozen DJs whose behaviour fell within the spectrum of Icka's selfish, arrogant, immature world-view and I can tell you that their behaviour did not lead to the simplistically realised 'happy ending' (such as it is) which is portrayed in Berlin Calling.The ending scenes in particular left me feeling that the makers of this movie actually believe in the same gloriously-decadent vision that they condemn Ickarus for having. They really seem to be saying that minimal techno is an end unto itself;that all the drug addiction and relationship failures that play a part in its production are just a means to an end, a drop in the ocean of 'immortality' that comes from having one's name etched on a piece of wax. Ickarus' family, best friends, lovers and admirers are all portrayed as mere accessories to his dream; willing slaves to his quest for fortune and fame. Berlin Calling would have been a much better film if its makers had dared to question the greed (both emotional and material) which bound to it in the first place.Near the end of the film, Icka's Dad blames his son's behaviour on the fall of the Berlin wall. Personally, I found this to be a lame attempt to tack some sort of logic onto the pointlessly infantile behaviour displayed by Ickarus - who for all the world comes across as a spoilt brat. If only there was some proper character development in this film - either in Icka or his supporting (and tellingly, largely-female) cast, then his selfish behaviour may have made sense. But as it is, you come away thinking, this is a guy with too much money and too little brains to appreciate it. In other words, he's about as political as a silk Gucci scarf!

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.