Berlin
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Berlin 2014: ‘Stratos’ review
★★★★☆ Certain to be one of the more divisive Competition films to have screened at this year’s Berlinale once the dust had settled, Yannis Economides hogties and drags his national cinema from the shadow of Yorgos Lanthimos with fourth feature Stratos (2014), a bleak, brooding noir deliciously tainted by bad debt, ill-advised investments and good…
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Berlin 2014: ‘Calvary’ review
★★★☆☆ Whilst his brother Martin crossed the Atlantic for sophomore feature Seven Psychopaths, director John Michael McDonagh follows up 2011’s The Guard with Calvary (2014), another Irish-set tale of moral musings and gallows humour. Teaming up with the ursine Brendan Gleeson once again, with support this time round from Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran, Chris O’Dowd…
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Berlin 2014: ‘Aloft’ review
★☆☆☆☆ A bona fide turkey (albeit a handsome fowl) masquerading as a graceful, gliding falcon, Claudia Llosa’s Golden Bear hopeful Aloft (2014) isn’t short of ideas; the problem being that each and every one is so woefully explored over the course of proceedings as to baffle, irk and ultimately infuriate its dumbstruck audience. Llosa scooped…
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Berlin 2014: ‘The Unknown Known’ review
★★★★☆ One of several high profile documentaries screening at this year’s 64th Berlin Film Festival, veteran filmmaker Errol Morris presents The Unknown Known (2013), a brilliant one-on-one with one of the most influential figures in American politics over the last three decades: Donald Rumsfeld. Having served under three previous US presidents – Nixon, Ford and…
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Berlin 2014: ‘Nymphomaniac Vol. 1’ review
★★★★☆ The uncut first half of Danish enfant terrible Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac (2013) was unleashed as nature intended last week Out of Competition at this year’s 64th Berlinale. It’s as bonkers as you would expect, but not at the expense of being brazenly philosophical, psychologically stimulating and – most unexpectedly – outrageously funny. Von…
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Berlin 2014: ‘Nuoc 2030’ review
★★☆☆☆ In recent years, climate change has become one of the dominant themes of dystopian film narratives, reflecting a growing acceptance that global warming isn’t merely the stuff of science fiction. Nguyễn-Võ Nghiêm-Minh’s Nuoc 2030 (2014) is a near-future parable set in a world where rising seas have displaced the majority of the Vietnamese population…
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Berlin 2014: ‘History of Fear’ review
★★★☆☆ A damming portrait of a community tearing itself apart from the inside, Benjamín Naishtat’s Berlinale Competition offering History of Fear (2014) ponders the future outcome of a world governed through fear and paranoia. Opening with an aerial shot surveying the film’s gated Buenos Aires compound, History of Fear presents us with a seemingly dystopian…
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Berlin 2014: ‘Blind Massage’ review
★★☆☆☆ Blind Massage (Tui na, 2014), adapted from Bi Feiyu’s eponymous novel, is Chinese director Lou Ye’s second feature following his State-imposed filmmaking ban. Shot with a mixed cast of professional and non-professional blind actors and boasting a highly developed aptitude for visual storytelling, Ye’s latest is a sensual poem about those leading their lives…
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Berlin 2014: ‘Land of Storms’ review
★★★☆☆ Ádám Császi’s debut film Land of Storms (2014) is a tale of gay sexual awakening in rural Hungary that renders the endorphine rush of ecstasy that blooms during youthful infatuation. Told through a series of visually salient passages, Császi’s confident debut provides another voice in the current collective discourse regarding gay rights in Eastern…
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Berlin 2014: ‘Free Range’ review
★★☆☆☆ A vapid and conceited slacker comedy about the lack of cultural identity felt by a despondent generation of Estonians, Veiko Õunpuu’s Free Range (2013) inhabits the zeitgeist of his Baltic homeland via a sardonically lo-fi aesthetic of nostalgic hues and evocative music cues. However, this tale of longing and be-longing is far too burdened…