What’s the best British crime TV series you have been watching within the last two, three months?
Oh, that’s simple. LINE OF DUTY, Season 3. Highly addictive, psychologically compelling, incredibly performed. But you have to start with the great season 1 to get inside the „Internal Affairs“-team.
What has been the best documentary lately?
Laurie Anderson’s HEART OF A DOG, does certainly live up to the „Hörspiel“-version of it. It’s a meditation on life, death and contains, apart from that, one heartwrenching dream of turning time around.
Did you recently think of a book you have read a long time ago?
Funny, you ask that. Some stories linger on forever. It’s one by Ernst Augustin, EASTEND. A German writer who should be known to a much bigger audience. EASTEND had been avalailable, once upon a time – with a red cover and a small London bus photo on it – at „Suhrkamp Taschenbuch“, that great series with monochromatic covers. A love story with twists and turns, and a showdown, yep, in London. A unique voice, this „Augustin-sound“. Another cracker of his: DER AMERIKANISCHE TRAUM. You still can get his books at C.H. Beck Verlag.
What is the crime novel you’re reading these days?
The last novel of Michael Koryta, LAST WORDS. It’s a book with many layers, and a considerable portion of it is happening under the planet’s surface, in the world of caves. No book for people with claustrophobia. Full of ghosts, but no mystery novel. The ghosts are all coming from the inside.
What has been your last concert movie?
Neil Young’s RUST NEVER SLEEPS. Now reissued on DVD ans BLU RAY with a good surround sound. In the first part, Young plays alone with acoustic guitar, after which he gets into a bed and is carried off. When he returns, he is accompanied by Crazy Horse, the greatest, funkiest bar band ever to play packed stadiums. The music sounds indescribably immense, and the band seem to be shredding their very nervous systems to provide it. You have to hear it LOUD!
Has there been a movie recently that you have seen again and again?
One. THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY. Another very special love story situated in a lesbian colony of the British hinterland. In fact I’ve till now seen it about six times, still hesitating to look at the version with the audio commentary. It‘ so immersive. I still don’t want the „outside“-perspective. It succeeds on every level. The natural sounds and the music are gorgeous, it’s one of the best dramas on control and surrender I’ve ever seen. I sent a copy to Brian Eno. He hasn’t yet answered. I think he’s still speechless :)
questions: Manfonistas Headquarter
stolen lines (only a few): James Griffith