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Day Three 
8:50pm After going through the Berlinale film festival incompetency-from-hell ticket retrieval process this morning, we headed over to Kreuzberg, the punk section of Berlin. The only punks we saw were at the S-Bahn station which is also known as a haven for heroin addicts. Unlike the heroin addicts in NYC and LA, the ones we saw in Kreuzberg just looked like street bums, whereas the junkies in LA and NYC often have a cool sort of dress and ambiance about them. 
Kreuzberg is heavily Turkish/Muslim these days and not very punk from what we could tell but that could just have been the area we visited in Kreuzberg as the area seems rather large. That being said, we did find some rather nice, young family areas that were pretty cool and reminded me of the restaurants and cafes in NYC - not lacking in character. 
Nice graffiti in Kreuzberg which we have found in admirable abundance throughout Berlin. 
After our visit to Kreuzberg, we saw a French film called Le Premiere Venu by director Jacques Doillon. A nice piece. Sophie enjoyed it. So far, we have had two days of old films. We missed two other films today, both new films. Apparently, this is our festival of retrospectives. Sounds good. The old films here are fabulous and we would probably never see them if not here. The new films will probably come around again with easier accessibility. 
We are looking forward to our Berlin sightseeing excursions. Midnight We just got out from seeing Go, Go Second Time Virgin by director Koji Wakamatsu. He is a completely bizarre Japanese filmmaker who was stereotyped as a porno director for many years. His use of groovy music from the late 1960s works well with the angsty adolescent sexual killing spree which is portrayed in this film. His work is simple, yet complete and professional. He used a lot of rather raw mid-shots which emphasized the simplicity and nakedness of emotion while the rough footage of the six floor decent down the staircase matched the deranged insanity of the storyline. Sophie like it a lot. We both agreed that Sion Sono is the modern day approximation of Wakamatsu. 
Japan now embraces Wakamatsu's work. When it first showed at the Berlinale film Festival 43 years ago Japan was less than thrilled that it was part of the festival. In fact, Japan ended up boycotting the festival in protest of it showing the work of Wakamatsu which Japan felt was too erotic to be shown. This time around, Japan handled the English subtitle translations and fully supported Wakamatsu and his films. I enjoyed the cinematography. There is no doubt Wakamatsu is an artist. He is just a deranged, sick, perverted artist. But, then again. so are so many artists... and non-artists. We've had ticket debacles and we've missed films but everything is exactly as it should be both at the festival and in Berlin, in general. It is a nice vacation. I love films and I am so impressed with what we are seeing. Such a varied learning experience for both Sophie and myself. Related Links Berlin and Berlinale Film Festival - Day One Berlin and Berlinale Film Festival - Day Two Berlin and Berlinale Film Festival - Day Four Kreuzberg - Berlin, Germany Photos | 
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