A dark, noirish quality to it...

Something I've been thinking about over the last couple of days:

Reminiscing about my research days in Hamburg and also about the weekends and nights I had spent there in the years before already, I got this idea again about the Reeperbahn being this place of darkness, a place of the unconscious, of dreams and nightmares coming true...a place with a noir atmosphere, in which we leave the world of reason and enter an animalistic world of instinct that drives us forward, into places that we normally wouldn't go, but somehow trigger something in us that's been lying there, slumbering deep down...a world of the unfamiliar, the strange, the unknown, which is exactly what makes it interesting, seductive...it is the fact that we don't understand it, yet we are so fascinated by it...

It reminded me of films like Lynch's Lost Highway or Blue Velvet - a film digging into the underbelly of heartland America and showing us the its dark side while at the same time letting its main character discover his own inner instincts, needs and unconscious that drives him forward and leads him to places that he cannot grasp. Another story that comes to mind is Scorsese's Shutter Island, of which I am reading the script and book at the moment, also showing this scene of a crime while at the same time digging into the deepest subconscious feelings, dreams and nightmares of its main character. What I also found in this regard while researching the life of actor Hans Albers, was the film The Blue Angel (1930) starring Marlene Dietrich as seductive vaudeville singer Lola. Here as well, a very strict school professor gets lured into a world unknown to him and succumbs to his primal feelings by falling in love with Lola. Thus, he loses his reputation in society and ends up as a clown in the vaudeville act, which brings along his eventual demise.

If you're interested in watching The Blue Angel, I found it on google here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2030824078300409918&hl=en#

Also the song by Marlene Dietrich that incorportates the essence of the film, amazing:



In short, what I'm trying to describe here, is that I am truly fascinated by this world that I cannot grasp, that may always lead and has lead me already to places that I didn't understand not only in the outside world but also within myself - a world that gives me goose bumps, that creeps up my neck and makes me feel afraid and fascinated at the same time - gives me the feeling I want to run away and dig into it more simultaneously...

There are a couple of famous characters in film that come to mind when I think about this. Hopefully, mentioning them will give you a bit of a better idea of what I am talking about:

1. The Joker (The Dark Knight) - the interrogation scene - BRILLIANT - also we never know exactly hye he is the way he is, which makes his evilness even more powerful...

2. Frank Booth (Blue Velvet) - the character representing a world of the unconscious:





The way Frank disappears at the end...creepy!



3. The man at the party (Lost Highway) - still creeps up my neck whenever I watch him:



(This scene is actually part of the Top 10 creepiest movie scenes, a guy gathered together on youtube - AWESOME :) !!!)

4. also, Michael Myers (Halloween, the original one): In the first film, what is so fascinating about him is the fact that you almost never see him walk into the frame or leave. Mostly, he is either there or he is not! Which gives him an almost supernatural quality and thus makes him even more frightening...

All these characters, I don't understand them, but this is exactly why I am so fascinated by them. I believe that if I did understand them actaully, they surely wouldn't leave such an impression.

Another thing in this regard that comes to my mind is a nightmare that my girlfriend has told me once about, which has this same creepy but fascinating quality:

She was standing in a cue at one of the counters in a bank. Suddenly, a group of men dressed in black and wearing these black filter masks came running in and she found herself in the middle of a robbery. While everyone lay down on the floor, she managed to head towards a staircase and began to descend into what she thought must have been the vault area. Down the stairs, however, she found herself walking along this long dark corridor that appeared to have no end. It was like all of a sudden she were in this rundown building. There was mold everywhere. Then she heard a weeping and began to follow the noise. She passed a couple of doors until she reached one that was open. Inside a bare room, she saw a little boy sitting on a bunkbed and crying. She hurried towards him and took him in her arms, trying to comfort him. Then another noise - it was a constant low breathing, Darth Vader-like, just as if it came through a filter mask. Slowly and constantly, the breathing grew louder until one of the robbers appeared right there in front of them in the doorway and saw them. He turned towards them and approached them slowly. Desperately trying to find something to defend herself, my girlfriend started looking around and on a night stand she finally found this test tube. She grabbed it and when the man reached her and tried to assault her and the boy, she began to beat the guy desperately with this test tube. She beat him, kicked him and punched him until the man began to let go of them and it felt like he gradually lost his power. Simultaneously with losing his power, it also appeared as if he began to shrink. And he did...he became smaller and smaller and smaller...until he was so small that my girlfriend was able to put the test tube over him and trap him this way, but the man shrank more and more until he had disappeared completely. Embracing the little boy in a big hug in that bare, mold-infested room, she woke up eventually...

Just writing this down still makes me shiver...

Here's a picture made by Otto Dix I found on the web that totally reminded me of this nightmare:
To sum up, all this stuff that I have been writing about in this post, the red light district in Hamburg also has always had this quality of the strange and unfamiliar to me. It has this dark, noirish quality to it...maybe this will also be part of my eventual story.

The Historic Whore Tour

The tourist in me is writing this :) :

Something that I would deeply recommend to anyone visiting Hamburg. It costs about 30 euros and you are taken on a two-hour trip through Hamburg's red light district by a woman dressed like a prostitute in the old ages.

You really get to know a lot about the history of this place and how it developed and even stood its ground during the Nazi era. You also get to see what a 'classic' room a prostitute occupies looks like. They also take you onto the Great Freedom and let you know that it hasn't gotten its name from anything concerning sex, but that this area once had been occupied by the Danish and their laws for merchants where a lot looser than the Germans'. You also get to know a lot more about the 'Laufhäuser', which are the brothels along the Reeperbahn, and what is going in Schmuckstraße, something I have told you already in my chapter on the Great Freedom church. At the end of the tour, as a thank you, you also get a very specific schnaps, they call 'Hurenschnaps'...tastes quite nice :)

So whenever you go to Hamburg, do the historic whore tour! It's definitely worth the money and they also offer the tour in English.

The Queen of Clubs

Just a little anecdote on the side:

While I was doing my research on Wednesday, August 25th, I entered a side street to the Albers Platz and found a playing card on the ground. It was the Queen of Clubs. Out of curiosity, I took it with me and decided to do some research into that particular card. As with many cards, this one as well has a lot of meanings when it comes to cartomancy:

Amongst many things, it is the card of female intuition and care. It also means, however, that everything we do is soon to be tested and this will influence our further lives. My screenplay? Most of all, however, it tells you that 'if you manage to overcome your fears, you can turn them into a power that leads you to inner peace. Thus, you will never be alone as long as you keep the faith that there is always someone with you and embracing you with their wings of light.' A guardian angel?

So what does this mean? To be honest, I have no clue whatsoever. I guess, some higher power is just telling me 'Phil, you on the right track. Carry on with what you do!' I will.

An Uneasy Feeling...

Something I just remembered from my first day of research that I have only mentioned in passing at the beginning of my blog:

Near the end of that day, I was waiting at the Albers Platz to see, if it was really true that the prostitutes' work day started at 8pm sharp. The rain was getting heavier now and I found shelter under one of the big sun umbrellas they had put up to keep the beer benches from getting wet. I looked at my watch and at 7.58pm they did come out and started to line up all over the Albers Platz and the other streets in the restricted area they are allowed to stay in. You can see that on the photo here:

It is basically a square area, in which the prostitutes are allowed to go about their business.

But basically what happened is that after about five minutes there was this man, white hair, probably in his late fifties, grey suit, who started a conversation with one of them and it lasted for a couple of minutes. To me, it seemed quite interesting. She kept talking to him and he appeared to consider going with her, maybe...I don't know...but that's what it looked like. Then he left her and started walking down towards the Reeperbahn and I became curious to see what he would do or where he would go.

So I got up, despite the rain, and started following him...which is something that I had never really done before: to deliberately pick out somebody from the crowd and just go wherever they went, observe them and see what they are up to. This, to be honest, made me feel really uneasy. It feeled like I was doing something forbidden in a certain way. I mean, how would I feel, if was picked out by somebody who all of a sudden started following me? Or maybe this has already happened a couple of times and I just didn't notice?...Paranoia creeping up my back now :) ...

My 'chase' turned out to be totally harmless, though. The guy passed the line of prostitutes at the Reeperbahn, went past the currywurst stand, past the police station, crossed the street and basically left the 'Kiez' (what St. Pauli is called here). Soon, I also lost interest in him, as he basically left my 'area' of research. Nonetheless, the fact that I followed him for a couple of minutes left me with that uneasy feeling and it took me a while to get rid of it...

It also reminded me a lot of Chris Nolan's debut film, which ironically is called Following. I watched it again afterwards and that uneasy feeling once in a while came back creeping up my neck, I have to say.

If you're interested, I found the film on google videos for free to watch. Here's the link: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6618880831029867065#

And here's the trailer:



In conclusion, even though Chris Nolan has dipped into that subject already, maybe it might also be an element I could use for my screenplay...

The Church

A place that has a quality I cannot yet grasp: St. Josephskirche (St. Joseph's Church), a Catholic church. It is right at the corner of Great Freedom and Schmuckstraße near the Reeperbahn, right at the corner of on one street with strip clubs en masse and another that is widely known as the 'Transenstrich', basically the alley in which transsexuals offer themselves at night.

I went there during the day and I strolled past it at night. At its gate it says 'There is nothing that Jesus can't cope with'. Strolling past it, I had to think about when it was the last time I went to church and I came to the conclusion that it had been a loooong time ago. Last time, I can remember, it was a couple of years ago during a holiday trip to Lake Como, Italy, with my girlfriend. We went into this small church and I lit a candle - lighting a candle in a church has always given me some sort of peace that I cannot explain, even though I am not really a religious person myself; at least not in the traditional sense of Christianity and all the other religions. I do believe in something, don't get me wrong here; it's just something that I cannot grasp really, at least not yet.

So, basically what I did was, I went to a service the first time in I can't say how long. As I expected, there weren't a lot of people in there. Apart from the pastor and a nun, we were only six altogether. It was a celebration of the Last Supper, a Holy Communion...I don't really know what the exact English term for that is...and it doesn't matter really. What matters is the fact that, to me, it was a very good experience. I noticed again this very sublime and noble character that churches have always had for me, a place that gave me some sort of peace that I could feel deep down in my belly...and one I can't explain either. It's just there whenever I enter a church. And even though there were only very few people there, they all had such a positive and peaceful aura.

After the service, I lit a candle again and decided that I should do this more often; it doesn't have to be a service or anything, just sitting there and experiencing the peace of it, which kind of feels like a time-out from everything that happens in the world outside.

Heading outside then, an old lady had trouble getting down the stairs with her wheeled walker. A black lady and I helped her. I don't want to sound too sentimental now, but sometimes, it really is the simple things in life that can just make you feel a bit better...

Why I didn't stay at the Alt-Hamburg...

Here the story of why I didn't end up staying a night at the Hotel Alt-Hamburg:

When I came back to Nuremberg again, having finished the job shooting The Duo in Hamburg, I started out planning my second stay in Hamburg at the end of August. I called up the Hotel Alt-Hamburg and reserved a single room for two nights. The receptionist wrote down my name and asked me again if I really intended to come. It was probably a result of her own experience that she did this. I gathered it might often happen in a place like this that young people who intended to party in Hamburg made a reservation and then just didn't show. I assured her that I would, though.

The night before, I called the hotel again to confirm my reservation. Everything was as planned. I told the lady that I would be arriving some time in the afternoon and she said that this was okay. The day after, I took the subway to the Reeperbahn and went to the Albers Platz. I took a turn into Querstraße, a side alley to the square, and entered the quite rustic and rundown place. Outside it still had a sign showing its prices in marks and offering a cheaper rate for teenagers, students and (believe it or not) sailors.

Inside, I saw the entrance to the tavern to my left and the reception was through an open doorframe to my right. An old woman was sitting behind the desk sipping on a coffee and reading the paper. When she saw me coming in, she suddenly had a look on her face as if she'd been struck by lightning, maybe wondering what I was doing here, I don't know. Above her upper lip, she had a small fluff, I noticed, which made her look a bit weird. The lady seemed sceptical somehow and her scepticism during the entire conversation didn't seem to vanish. I told her that I had reserved a single room for the night. She looked down on her chart that was invisible to me and replied with a blunt 'I don't think so', which left me a bit startled I have to say.

I told her that I had called twice to confirm the reservation and she said that she didn't have my name anywhere. I sighed and asked her if she at least had a spare room that I could book now. She told me that she still had one for the night. 'I take it', I replied. She then turned around and looked through the pigeonholes with the keys in them, as to see which room it was exactly. She took out a filled-in form, tore it up and handed me one to fill in. This made me a bit sceptical now. So I filled in the form and since she just looked at me and didn't say anything, I asked her when I needed to pay. 'Always in advance!' she said, so I got out a fifty from my wallet to pay the 22 euros. Again, the look, struck by lightning!

'I can't give you change for that. Don't you have it smaller?' I told her I didn't. Another moment of awkward silence, in which we were just staring at each other. I finally broke the silence. 'I tell you what, I was about to head to the theatre anyway. Is it okay, if I come back afterwards and give you the money then?'

'That is fine', the woman said. Finally, things appeared to be sorted. But then the look again! 'Can I get the keys and leave my stuff upstairs?' I asked, getting annoyed now. 'No, you can't 'cause you haven't paid yet.' F...ing hell, I mean, it was not like I was trying to have sex for free with a prostitute; I just wanted to leave my bag and backpack, so I wouldn't have to carry them around all the time. So, I got out of there and went to the theatre to see Die Seltsame Gräfin (The Odd Countess), an Edgar Wallace crime story, at the Imperial Theatre just down the road. The play managed to distract me and calm me down a bit.

Then, after the play, I even went to a kiosk to change my five euro bill into coins, so I could give her the exact amount of cash for the night. The Albers Platz was getting busier now and there were more people walking down its side alleys, the prostitutes guarding the place off like it was some kind of maximum security prison. As I entered the Alt-Hamburg again, a guy already on the verge of being completely drunk, exited. I took a right and was back at the recpetionist's desk. 'I have the money now.' I said, already getting out my wallet. But as I did so, the woman, without even looking up from her tabloid, answered: 'Now the room is gone.'

'What do you mean, it's gone?' I asked, a bit flabbergasted. 'Someone else took it.' she replied. She still didn't look up and continued reading her paper when I got out and left without another word...

The Bum & The Businessman

An image that I secretly took on my second day. Just the way they sit there in this parallel way outside a Pizza Hut, to me, is a story in itself. It was about noon time, so I guess the businessman was on his lunch break. And the homeless guy taking some notes: maybe he is writing a letter to someone or just jotting down some stuff that he needs to get. I think he got himself a coffee there at Pizza Hut because they are offering the cheapest one on the Reeperbahn, but I'm not entirely certain about that. This might actually be a good basis for a story...