Freezing weather and "Operation Kino"

Berlin right now:

(Style.com)
So much for escaping the Canadian weather! Luckily, it's also ridiculously bright and sunny. Which *almost* melts my Grinch-like heart when it comes to winter.

There's also some cool stuff to look forward to. Like the 60th international film festival in Berlin, the Berlinale.

I am super-excited, not least because I've already had a little taste of TIFF madness already, and because of the pre-Oscar buzz that the Berlinale is likely to attract.

I also FINALLY got around to seeing Inglourious Basterds last Friday, with a glass of red wine and good company in a little cinema on Oranienburger Strasse, and it did not disappoint.

A few observations:
1) This movie was pure CASTING GOLD. Tarantino is, among other things, really adept at writing strong roles for women, and his female characters also all share a very strong film noir quality. I think this is why I have a soft spot for him, because every time I see one of his films, I find myself really wanting to be Uma as Mia Wallace, or, in this case, the stunning and vengeful Melanie Laurent as Shoshanna Dreyfus.

Then there's the whole cast of extremely talented German-speaking male actors. I can't even begin to express how much of a breath of fresh air it was to see such talented and nuanced roles for German actors in an international film. Til Schweiger has seen worse. I also found Christoph Waltz absolutely breathtaking - excuse the unconventional word choice - and I'm pretty sure I squealed when Michael Fassbender walked onto the screen.

Also: this is the first movie I've seen with German baddies actually being played by Germans. A lot of makes this film so subtle and perfect can be summed up in its treatment of languages, and second languages, and assumed accents.

2) Stylistically, I also loved the way the film referenced the aesthetic sensibilities of the Nazi era and its inherent, perverse absurdity, especially in the film's constant references to the Nazi-era mountain drama "The White Hell of Piz Palu". It might be kind of ironic that red and black made such a perfect colour palette for the film.

3) On the violence: Tarantino may be accused of aestheticizing violence, but why begrudge him his fun when he does it so well?

Now excuse me while I go reread Susan Sontag's "Fascinating Fascism".