Skip to main content

HipBeat

We have all heard that Berlin is a city where there are no walls when it comes to gender oppression, keeping yourself from yourself, all barriers down, flat on the ground. Weirdness for some on full display, the city provides a safe space for 'outsiders'. And so it only made sense to create a documentary drama film about a young political activist embarking on a journey of self-discovery while searching for love and anarchy within Berlin's colourful queer community.

Angus is an Irish 20-something political fascist guy who spends his time spray painting his tag 'HipBeat' around town. When not strolling the streets with spray cans, he rolls around in bed and on ecstasy with his girlfriend Angie. At clubs, Angus is living the punk rock life of Riley, with lollipops in his mouth and butter in his a*s. However, he feels the draw of something deeper inside him. When he chats with a local drag queen, his eyes open up. They further open up when he chats with an old friend who is in an open relationship with his boyfriend. Angus is off to bathroom stalls sex encounters and drugs oblivious to his girlfriend. Then one day, she walks in on Angus in a dress applying makeup. Secrets start coming up, and feelings start getting hurt.

This gorilla style documentary-drama approach did not work for at all. For films like this to work, you have to have a connect with the main character. You need to understand the motivations behind, his past etc and what is it thats driving them to do what they are doing, but at no point was I able to connect with Angus. And to make matters worse, the style of direction with experimental and choppy shots are edited and combined together, which somehow are supposed to make sense to the audience. Half the time I was conflicted d if this was a documentary or drama or what? Too much identity crisis is going on explained through voice overs by Angus. His mood travels from one side to another and doesn’t even care to explain what’s the issue at hand. And when you don't care about what's happening, there is no way you can enjoy the film. I would say avoid. (2.5/10)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Shortest Distance is Round 3: Fallen Flowers

Continuing with the weird trilogy of "The Shortest Distance", I am so glad that finally I am done with part 3 and won't have to deal with this again in future. Thankfully, as of now the makers have not announced any further parts; which will save all of us on this earth from the embarrassment of watching this in near future. After the first 10 minutes are used in sort of recapping bits of first two parts, the story moves forward. Haruto is now starting to have feelings for Ruka, the mysterious pole dancer from second part. In a fit of rage, Ruka ends up killing the goat man and to save him and Haruto, Shibahara asks them to go underground. Meanwhile Shibahara continues the search for Seiya (the guy who had cut off Haruto's penis). It turns out Seiya is now also taking care of the original club owner from part 1. Both of them were released after they had informed Shibahara of Aoyama's secret location. Shibahara tortures Seiya's boyfriend leading to Seiya killin

One Summer Night (Korean)

I really wanted to like this film but for non native speakers, these movie leaves a lot to be understood and the way scenes were unfolding in front of me, I wasn't sure many times what was really going on. The story had potential button getting any back story on any of the characters limited my ability to empathize with any of these actors. Film starts with two North Korea military guys Yong Joon and Jae Sung having sex and they are caught red handed and they run. Three years later we see Yong Joon in Seoul leading a very mundane and poor life. He has a boyfriend Tae-Kyu, who is a weird guy. He is carefree, doesn't do any work and is completely emotional and financially dependent on Young Joon. In fact, even Yong Joon will go to any lengths to protect him , fend for him and taking care of him to the extent of even taking up prostitution. Suddenly one day Jae Sung appears in their life again. His motivation is not clear but it is obvious he wants Yong Joon back in his life, who

Ultimate masturbation: Shigoki no yama (Japanese) [The Ultimate Masturbation]

I would never know what was the point behind making this film. Was it supposed to be a comedy, cos it wasn't. It wasn't even porn. It was just a silly attempt at making something absolutely senseless and ridiculous. The story, as well as direction is equally shoddy. You could laugh for having seen something so bad, but I wouldn't call that comedy. An old man runs a camp about gay masturbation. The explanation given is that gays masturbate for pleasure unlike straight men, for whom the act is seen as shame or because they can't find a woman. One day a straight man shows up and wants to join the camp for his thesis. After discussion, he is allowed in. Rules include that you can masturbate together, you can masturbate one another, but there is no fellatio or anal sex. Some students of course breaks rule. The teacher then talks about 2 forms of masturbation which gives ultimate pleasure. He shows one without touching and then refuses to talk of the other. Somehow suddenly,