Pacific Vein

An endless tracking shot through a picturesque panorama of the American West. Among fake classical buildings, there is Julian Assange as a soda salesman pondering the digitalisation of our world. Around him, hippies, artists and homeless people struggle to express themselves, their messages captured by surveillance cameras. Fictional scenes merge with documentary footage. The empire is busy (with fitness and self-optimisation) and nervous (with the military and weapons) as the American Dream slides into a ghostly auto-suggestion. Where, actually, is the enemy and who has the image rights? A big glug of revitalising energy drink might help to make heavy thoughts seem light. (Berlinale)