Report: "New God" in Berlin FF

[Janine Hansen]

Many thanks to Markus for posting Tsuchiya Yutaka's Berlin report. As
one of the ordinary festivalgoers I found Tsuchiya's impressions "from
the other side" of the screenings and Q&A sessions really interesting.

I went to the late screening of _The New God_, the one that ended way
past midnigt. The cinema was very full in the beginning. A number of
people walked out of the film but -- surprisingly -- not so many. I
didn't stay until the very end of the Q&A, so I may be biased, but I had
the feeling that quite a few questions were covertly attacking the film
and Tsuchiya himself for not being political enough (and Amamiya fot not
being political at all). In his report Tsuchiya quotes one spectator who
said something to the effect that changing from the political right to
the left rather seemed like switching the brand of ones car. That sounds
like a very accurate metaphor to me. Right or left becomes a decision
made according to the simple question of what (in this case emotional)
reward does one get from belonging to (read: consuming) this or that
group. So then, where's the difference between an ideology and a car
when both are treated as a consumer article that you either throw away
after use or resale it by taking part in a documentary?

_The New God_ certainly raises more questions than it answers but I
still can't figure out for myself whether I think it's a good film or
not.

BTW, not that it matters but this year's hommage was dedicated to Jeanne
Moreau, not Brigitte Bardot as Tsuchiya writes.

Thanks again,
Janine