One of my goals is to visit all of the cinemas in Berlin. At this point, I’ve been to quite a few but I still have a ways to go. Every other day I open the app to see what’s playing and where to see if I can swing it. Last night, I met with a friend to get dumplings and catch up. Afterwards we walked over to the Sputnik kino in Kreuzberg—a cinema I’ve wanted to visit for quite some time.
After climbing the five flights of stairs, I found myself in a small upstairs portion of a building that felt like the $1 movie theater my Omie used to take me to on Wednesdays back home. This correlation is one of endearment, not of criticism. They had a small popcorn maker and a variety of vegan gummies and chocolate covered candies. I ordered my usual: a salty popcorn and a radler. The walls were painted red with black curtains and chairs which reminded me of my childhood bedroom.
“My little sister’s room looks like someone let Tim Burton design a hooker dungeon.” – my brother Ryan lol
So anyway, I was then directed towards “Sputnik kino 1” where they were playing Beetlejuice 2. It’s October, which I’ll remind everyone is my favorite month of the year, and watching Beetlejuice is an annual tradition. Before my brother left to go home to the US, we spontaneously watched Beetlejuice. I have strong emotional ties to that movie and memories associated with it. I can remember almost every year of my life since I was a kid catching at least half of it when it aired on ABC Family for the 13 nights of Halloween. Anyway, when I saw they were doing a sequel, I wasn’t pumped about it but I knew I’d go see it.
Beetlejuice 2 isn’t playing many places in Berlin, or at least not as many as back home. I actually find it really funny that there isn’t a huge audience for the movie or it doesn’t hit the same here. I watched the movie, ate my popcorn and drank my lil radler. I sat in the leather seats that were housed in a brick frame fitting with the brutalist aesthetic in a tiny theater separated from the lobby by a thin black curtain. Halfway through the movie I remembered I had vegan sour gummies in my bag so I spent five minutes trying to get them out without disrupting the movie viewing experience. Overall, the movie was fine but put me in a weird headspace. It’s hard to explain or go further into at this moment but I’ll do my best.
I took the u7 home and walked back in the pouring rain. I was completely soaked when I got home and I actually didn’t mind all that much. I was thinking a lot about the past and home. I’ve been doing my best not to let my mind always go there but sometimes it’s inevitable. I stepped inside, grabbed an umbrella for Russ and we went on our night loop. As I turned the corner to head home, I saw a familiar face—the homeless guy who lives on my block. I see him every day in various places at different times of the day. He’s usually at the späti having a cup of coffee or sitting at this little place to eat. He smiled at Russ and I as we walked by and I smiled back. Over the past year, he’s seen me in a broad range of emotions. He first smiled at me when I was crying on a summer day and not able to compose myself. It kind of took me by surprise that he smiled at me because he’s usually despondent or looking off into the void. Since then, we usually smile or wave when we see each other. He’s a permanent fixture of the neighborhood. I sent my brother this picture and he said “I wish we knew his name” and I said “same.”
I’m exhausted. I should try to slow down a bit or get some rest but it’s unlikely that will happen anytime soon. Happy October!
beetlejuice, beetlejuice, beetlejuice