The best of your comments on the latest films and music
Oh, West Berlin! City of fascination for suburban Brits in the late 1970s and early 80s! Drugs! Sex! Great albums! Great films! More drugs! More sex!
Last week, Jon Savage outlined what made West Berlin so culturally fascinating 30 or so years ago: "An oasis of extremity created by the cold war ? peopled with bohemians and outcasts." One thing he didn't explain was why it was peopled by those bohemians and outcasts. Enter Hooper165, who explained that Berliners were exempt from conscription to the West German army, which "triggered in the 70s and early 80s a vast youth migration from all parts of Germany into Berlin". Showmaster expanded the point, explaining that even as the young were desperate to move in to the city, the old were desperate to move out. And why did the young live so much in the moment? Showmaster answered that from personal experience: "I needed to spend a few Sunday mornings listening to the rabbits setting off the mines to fully understand that it was completely surrounded by an extreme and aggressive neighbour. The well-understood military fact that for every allied soldier in Berlin the Russians had at least one tank and 1,000 troops waiting to invade created an amazing atmosphere in the city. One young person caught the zeitgeist when they revealed the common understanding: 'We are all dead in 20 minutes anyway, so live for those 20.'"
When West Berlin was attracting all those young bohemians, Terrence Malick was forging his reputation as a director with the films Badlands and Days of Heaven. Malick was the subject of David Thomson's Biographical Dictionary of Film column last week, and there was a certain amount of excitement from readers about the prospect of The Tree of Life, the forthcoming Malick movie. "The fact that this new film is completely conceived by him, as opposed to being an adaptation or an interpretation of historic incident, must mean we're going to get even more of his vision and sensibility up on the screen, surely?" suggested leroyhunter. "That's what I want to see anyway."
Sometimes the hearts of those who toil on F&M swell with pity, as we see our dear readers turn upon some poor subject with unbridled venom. The latest recipient of your ire is James Allan, the singer of Glasvegas (and an indoors sunglasses-wearer), interviewed last week by Dave Simpson. How, dear readers, would you describe Allan? "Pretentious self-indulgent twat," offered Mickyboy. "A total numpty," suggested martin77. "Musicians and music that should be muffled by pillows," said navro.
Maybe one's liking for Glasvegas is determined by one's tolerance for soul-baring, for when the band's defenders arrived, all praised Allan's willingness to be honest and empathetic in his lyrics. "I think it's an impressive thing to show your scars in public, as James Allan does," fazza said. "It is also very plausible that [he wears sunglasses because] he is shy and not a pretentious twat. They're an interesting band and he's an interesting man." DreadedSunnyDay added: "The man's lyrics are some of the most brutally honest I've heard in a long time. He possesses that very rare quality of uplifting the listener by way of genuine solice while making you feel absolutely distraught at the same time."
We suspect Joe Queenan has not yet been forgiven for what we now refer to, in hushed voices, as The Branagh Affair. Certainly, his piece lauding Eric Bana's talents led to a comments thread of vitriol, with his greatest crime being giving too many spoilers. In Joe's defence, it must be pointed out that no film whose ending was genuinely revealed was released later than 2009. As missfrankie put it: "All those complaining about spoilers should maybe try to have a discussion about the fate of characters in films without discussing the fate of characters in films. Not easy, is it?"
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