Lavish Ashes, Plush Dust

May 17, 2018 9:02 PM

Zu Asche, Zu Staub (a little NSFW) is a perfect dose of the tumultuous, tense world of Babylon Berlin. The extravagantly gritty drama, set during the collapse of the Weimar Republic and based on a series of detective novels, is reportedly the most expensive German TV series ever made.

• How Babylon Berlin Turned 1920s Germany Into a Wild, Historical-Fiction Fantasy World [Vulture]

“It was the ambition of the entire show, and in particular of sequences like this, to make the borders vanish that separate the periods from each other. [...] How can we make our time echo in the ’20s and the ’20s echo in our time?”

• Germany's 'Babylon Berlin' Crime Series Is Like 'Cabaret' On Cocaine [NPR]

Henk Handloegten, one of the show's co-creators, finds similarities between the nightlife of 1920s Berlin and that of today, especially when it comes to music. He says, "If you take techno music and you take people from the '20s on film — and they are dancing the Charleston — it matches perfectly."

• Sex, Drugs and Crime in the Gritty Drama ‘Babylon Berlin’ [NYT]

“The echoes of the ‘populism’ of the 1930s with what is going on right now is certainly a link that is being made,” Professor Cooke said. “How far this is played out in the show itself remains to be seen. But it is fair to say that these kinds of historical dramas always tend to use the past as a cipher for the present.”

• ‘Babylon Berlin’ Is A Lavish, Crazy Trip Back to Weimar Germany [Uproxx]

“a fascinating sociological portrait of this brief, precarious moment in German history, when opportunities for women were more abundant, gay culture was more visible, and a battle for the soul of the nation was being fought between democrats, communists, and the nationalists who would soon put Hitler in power and try to conquer Europe.”

• Sex, seafood and 25,000 coffees a day: the wild 1920s superclub that inspired Babylon Berlin [The Guardian]

“In Moka Efti – the nightclub-cum-seafood-restaurant-cum-bordello where the show’s story strands weave together – the production’s gargantuan ambition has found an appropriately maximalist setting. One would assume the producers had to invent the place to make their show work – if it hadn’t existed for real.”

• “Zu Asche, zu Staub”: Babylon Berlin and Weimar Nostalgia [Homesick for Yesterday]

“Instead of striving for complete accuracy and authenticity, like most period dramas, it consciously throws them overboard at times. For instance, instead of using songs from the 1920s, the producers decided to give the soundtrack a more contemporary feel. This is never more obvious than in the dance hall scene at the end of the second episode. Not only does it mix up all kinds of Weimar clichés—nude dancing, Josephine Baker’s banana skirt, Bauhaus decoration—it mixes them up with contemporary elements. The dance hall is closer to a techno club than the original Moka Efti and the robot moves of the singer are more reminiscent of Kraftwerk than any interwar dances.”

posted by oulipian (11 comments total)

Loved loved loved this series... So beautifully acted and designed and directed...
posted by PhineasGage at 9:16 PM on May 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

Where does one in the US watch this, and in what language?
posted by hippybear at 10:40 PM on May 17, 2018 [1 favorite]

It looks like it is available with subtitles on Netflix, which is absolutely wonderful!
posted by lilies.lilies at 11:15 PM on May 17, 2018 [3 favorites]

Mel Gordon's book 'Voluptuous Panic' as well as the first few of Philip Kerr's Bernie Gunther novels both make excellent companion pieces to this series.
posted by nonemoreblack at 12:18 AM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

I freaking loved this show. It was riveting--I loved the characters, the sets, the history. The nightclub scenes were, I thought, very well done, and very lavish, which contrasted beautifully with the squalor of Charlotte's family home.

I'd recommend watching it with the subtitles, not the dub. I prefer subtitles anyway, but from the clips I've seen, this English dub is particularly egregious.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:23 AM on May 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

HOLY FUCKING DOGSHIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't see how any series could live up to the promise of this vid. Jesus fucking christ. It like to blew my heart out of my chest, time and again, I'd get all hooked the visuals AND the audios of the singer or the dancers or another fascinating piece of the vid and the BLAMMMOOO !!!!! here's some fuck with a pistol or leaping out of a truck or some beauty fucking a lout or dancing to perfection and eyes are covertly being met all over the goddamn place and I am so, so, so hooked by this lead.

Is this series really this good? I do not have Netfux but I've a friend who'd lend me an ID I think so I could get in.

Whoa............

And may I repeat, for emphasis ~~~
HOLY FUCKING DOGSHIT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
posted by dancestoblue at 2:07 AM on May 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

I really liked it. There are moments where it goes overboard but if you approach it in that spirit (rather than as Serious Important Drama) then it’s a great ride. Can’t wait for a follow up season.
posted by nev at 4:27 AM on May 18, 2018

Dances to Blue, IMHO it is that good.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 7:32 AM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Chiming in to agree that season one was great. There was some plot cheating towards the end that felt a little cheap, but the awesomeness of the cast and overall production made it very easy to accept.
posted by paper chromatographologist at 7:35 AM on May 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

It's the most captivating, interesting thing I've watched in a long time. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about it: the actors, sets, story, dialog, and whatever else I can't name. Loved it. It's available on Netflix - watch it with subtitles. The dubbing is horrendous.
posted by entropos at 8:23 AM on May 18, 2018

This was a fantastic series.

Note also that Bryan Ferry was responsible for a lot of the music supervision, and appears in one episode.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 12:15 PM on May 18, 2018 [3 favorites]