Alexander Hacke Movies

Director Victor Ginzburg brings author Victor Pelevin's popular cult novel to the screen in this confrontational, occasionally hallucinogenic drama centering on a cynical Russian poet who becomes caught up in the world of high-stakes advertising shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union. Babylen Tatarsky (Vladimir Yepifantsev) was working in a drab sidewalk convenience shop when a chance run-in with an old friend reveals an exciting career opportunity. With Communism now a thing of the past, Moscow is quickly moving into the future. That means Western products will soon be flooding into stores, and in order to sell them Russian advertisers must to dream up campaigns with local flavor. When Babylen's instincts of what sells prove directly on target, he quickly begins to climb the ladder of success. But when Babylen gets a creative block, he turns to LSD, psilocybin mushrooms, cocaine, vodka and spiritual communication for creative inspiration. Summoning the spirit of Che Guevara with a Ouija board, Babylen gets an unexpected education that completely alters his perspective of the media, and he finds himself integrated with a secretive Babylonian cult that offers him a transcendent opportunity. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

A Munich teen achieves worldwide fame as the embodiment of sexual freedom in the 1960s after romancing some of the biggest rock stars on the planet and rising to stardom as a successful supermodel in this biographical musical drama centering on the eventful life of Uschi Obermaier. Until she arrived at the legendary Berlin "Kommune 1," Obermaier (Natalia Avelon) was just your typical German teen. All of that would quickly change, however, as Obermaier entered into a heated affair with leader Rainer Langhans (Matthias Schweighofer), appeared on the covers of Playboy and Stern, and became an icon of the young generation. But even when offered the opportunity to become an international film star by Italian producer Carlo Ponti, Obermaier refuses to trade her freedom for fleeting fame. Later, after experiencing the darker side of fame during a relationship with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards and realizing that she can no longer reconcile her outlook on life with living like a common groupie, the outspoken hippie nymph embarks on a quest to find eternal love with charismatic globe-trotter Dieter Bockhorn, the owner of Hamburg's red-light district. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this documentary originally commissioned by the German WDR TV's architecture division, the career of industrial innovators Einstürzende Neubauten is explored from their beginnings in an autobahn fly-over hole in Berlin to their later status as some of the most daring musicians to emerge from the early-'80s avant-garde music scene. With rare footage, interviews, and concert performance footage combining to offer a detailed history of the band as they attempt to shake the moribund music industry back to life, and footage of the band's theatrical collaborations with such artists as Peter Zadek and Heiner Müller showcasing the band's determination to break down music barriers, this career retrospective leaves no stones unturned in exploring every aspect of Einstürzende Neubauten's daring and enduring works. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

In this odd satire, three young people who have a grievance against their smug, conservative society band together in order to shake things up a little. In short, they decide to become terrorists, and contrive to assassinate Germany's leading politician by using a remote controlled toy car laden with explosives. First, they rob a bank in order to obtain the funds to put together their scheme, then they practice and practice some more. Not enough, obviously, for the device fails to detonate at the time chosen, and only later explodes, killing a number of ordinary people. However, their manifestos justifying their actions are sufficiently vague that, when they are published, they apply equally well to the accidental detonation of the bomb. Their itch of protest is now sufficiently well scratched, so they return once again to their conventional lives. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

German industrial pioneers Einsturzende Neubauten (the name means "Collapsing New Buildings") perform eight of their typically brutal compositions on this home video. Selections include "Der Tod Ist Ein Dandy," "Schaben," "Z.N.S.," and the title song. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi