Insert Witty German Title Here. Schnel.

One of the really great things about living at an embassy, being surrounded by embassies, is that everyone is constantly holding various cultural events (movies, art shows, lectures) that are more or less free and frequent.

So last night Bryan and I decided to attend this German film night, to support the new student director and hey, see some good independent film. It was a pretty neat set up, in the courtyard of the German embassy, and an excellent turn out. The film is called “Vakuum”.. and I honestly don’t know if I could tell you what it was about. (Even though it did have English subtitles) Described as a “sci-fi –action-thriller-romance”, it pretty much hit every one of those nails on the head. You’ll have to watch the trailer at the website to even get the gist of it.

Have you ever watched one of those movies where it’s totally good up until like, the last five minutes? That’s kind of what happened. I mean – not that the last five minutes were bad.. I just think maybe some strange (synonymous with bad) choices were made. For example, the whole introduction of a soul vs. mind vs. mind control type thing where somebody keeps souls in boxes. That’s not just something that you leave for the last couple minutes. Or comical (meant to be non comical) things like making your main female look like the guy from “Powder” in the last few minutes. All Bryan could think was that she was going to need some SPF 300. (Actually, I believe his exact words were “Hunny, you are gonna need some SPF 300!”) neither of us could stop laughing every time the camera panned to her. They really should have made her a little more off-white, perhaps an ecru. She was just too.. white. (Listen to me, like I’m a sci-fi-action-thriller-romance Ebert and Roeper. Sheesh. )

It was pretty neat to be out there in the heat (we sat in chairs that had mosquito coils underneath.. we were smart..) in the courtyard of the embassy, watching this young guys oeuvre.. I imagine he must feel a great deal of pride when “Direktor” comes up on the screen with his name under it. We actually got to watch that twice, the projector started having a conniption in the heat.

There’s a Canadian film festival on right now as well, and we’re going to see one of those on Friday night. It’s called “A Silent Love”.. sounds pretty good, it’s a new film, but black and white, so you’ve got to respect that just on principle. *smile* I’m excited.

Then (this was kind of a spur of the moment idea from Bryan) Bryan and I are going to Amritsar this weekend to see the Sikh Golden Temple, then to the Wagah/ Attari boarder to see the closing of the border at night. Apparently it’s really impressive, quite the macho show, I’ll let you know all about it. We were going to go into Lahore, Pakistan for the night, but one of us has travel restrictions, and it isn’t the friendly Canadian gal. Hmmm. Not a worry, I’ll sport a burka in due time. Wish me luck, will be back late Sunday. With any luck, with a bit more of a tan than this fluorescent office light is offering me.

(Oh, forgot to mention - German security was the strickest I've been through yet. They only let you in one at a time, with a pat down, bag check, metal detector, wand if needed, id, and your name on the guest list!! I made mention of it to Bryan, he told me to save first prize until we go to the Israeli's this evening. Yeah... that makes sense. )