Actor Keanu Reeves returns to theaters this weekend as Super Assassin John Wick in the third sequel of the hit franchise.
In 2020 we produced a Chat Cinema episode on the actor trying to dissect the appeal of the actor.
After the announcements of the main awards of this year’s Berlinale, other films also deserve recognition. In the Encounters section, The Klezmer Project was directed by Leandro Koch and Paloma Schachmann. Although it did not win (Here, by Bas Devos, took the prize), The duo’s work deserves stand-alone appraisal. Leandro, a frustrated Jewish wedding cameraman in Argentina meets and falls in love with a clarinetist. To spend time with her he contrives a documentary project commission for television. This project will take him across the remotest parts of Eastern Europe.
The Klezmer Project is original in that it adds a linear fictional narrative onto what is otherwise a documentary. It also manages to do this very seamlessly to provide double interest and entertainment. The quest to find the lost klezmer melodies that have been safeguarded by the Romani people both educates and fascinates. The film was recognized by winning the GWFF society Best First Feature Award. The prize of 50,000 € guarantees the safeguarding of Film and TV rights. A Special Mention from the GWFF was also given to The Bride, directed by Myriam U. Birara and in the Forum Competition section.
Tótem, directed by Lila Aviles, played in the Competition section failed to win any of the main awards. However, this Spanish take on melodrama both charmed and delighted. A family celebrates the birthday of a young father, also a painter. Sadly, he is also facing his impending mortality. The child protagonist, played by newcomer Naíma Senties, could easily have won the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance. The award went to another child protagonist Sofía Otero for 20,000 Species of Bees. Tótem, however, won the prize of the Ecumenical Jury. The well received work finished ahead of Golden Bear winner On the Adamant, awarded Special Mention at the festival.
One film in the Competition which surprisingly failed to win a prize was Limbo, directed by Ivan Sen. A detective called Travis Hurley arrives in a small Australian outback town. Staying at the Hotel Limbo, he has come to investigate a 20-year-old unsolved homicide of an Aboriginal woman. The only evidence he has is a number of tape recordings. Meanwhile, the victim’s family is reluctant to give much information, particularly to a white cop.
With patience, Travis will uncover some unpleasant truths, highlighting the injustice faced by Aboriginal Australians. Indigenous Australian film director Ivan Sen had previously won the Premiere First Movie Award at the Berlinale in 2002 for his first film Beneath Clouds. In Limbo he has created a hypnotic “desert noir” that makes excellent use of the landscapes. The choice of black and white further enhances the backdrop and static progress of narrative resolution.
A personal nod also goes to the following films: Blackberry, The Shadowless Tower (Main Competition); Boom! Boom! The World vs. Boris Becker, Kiss the Future (Berlinale Special – Out of Competition); Calls from Moscow, Notes from Eremocene, Cidade Rabat (Forum Section).
By Steve Yates
The 73rd Berlinale: A Look at the Main Prize Winners
The Berlin International Film Festival 2023 Award Ceremony took place on 25th February. Actress Kristen Stewart served as president of a seven-person international jury. The prize ceremony has often had some unusual choices for winners and this year was no exception.
The Golden Bear for Best Film went to On the Adamant, directed by Nicolas Philibert. As always, it is the film‘s producers (here, Céline Loiseau, Gilles Sacuto and Miléna Poylo) who are credited for the prize. The documentary focuses on a day care center on the River Seine in Paris. During the course of the film we get to know the bond between the care workers and patients
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Christian Petzold has always been a popular director at the Berlinale. This year he won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize for Red Sky (Afire). Four young people are staying in a holiday home on the Baltic Coast. One of them is a writer, struggling to finish his latest book. Meanwhile there are warnings of a heat wave and potential forest fire nearby. Petzold is successful here in making character interactions become a study in existential psychology. Also notable is the building of tension in what is otherwise a slow-paced but compelling film.
The Silver Bear Jury Prize was awarded to the Portuguese film Bad Living, directed by João Canijo. It concerns five women who have run an old hotel with ongoing conflicts. When a younger person arrives, old wounds are reopened.
Philippe Garrel, the French director (and sometime actor), is popular at the Berlinale and beyond, with films also regularly featuring in competition at Cannes and Venice. This year The Plough won him the Silver Bear for Best Director. The film concerns a traveling family puppet theater. After the father and grandmother die, the remaining family struggles to keep the legacy alive. It deserved the award for depicting the passion and realities of a puppet theater in the modern age.
Other main awards benefitted from the renowned Berlin accolades for fringe or special interest topics. Sofía Otero was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance in 20,000 Species of Bees. Directed by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren, a distraught child and her mother experience life changing experiences in a summer house. At just eight-years-old, Otero has made history as the youngest Berlinale winner.
Thea Ehre won the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance in Till the End of the Night by Christoph Hochhäusler. In the crime thriller, Ehre plays a Trans character just out of prison on probation. Meanwhile, Angela Schanelec received the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for Music, a perplexing film that will likely divide audiences. Concerning the Oedipus myth and containing little dialogue, its accolade therefore seems somewhat controversial.
Finally, the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution was awarded to Hélène Louvart for her cinematography in Giacomo Abbruzzese’s Disco Boy. A film not without some flaws, the prize for original cinematography was nonetheless well deserved.
By Steven Yates
I interviewed filmmakers Sam Freeman and Ng Ping for a Chat Cinema podcast last year. The BAFTA nominees had completed their short film noir FEMME. Fast forward to this week, the duo unrolled their feature debut FEMME at the Berlinale. A continuation on the sexual repression theme from the duo’s first work, the longer version stars Charles MacKay and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett in a cat a mouse game of revenge. The reviews have ranged from mixed to positive.
The 73rd Berlin International Film Festival is the first fully in-person Berlinale event since 2020.
Before the festival, Executive Director Mariette Rissenbeek and Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian spoke about their objectives this year. Overcoming the impact of the pandemic and closer ties with the U.S. are two such challenges. Meanwhile, there has also been a funding boost from the German government. The pair also explained how their program selection attempts to balance harsh realities with escapism.
The festival opened on February 16th with a grand red carpet ceremony. The television and stage show was produced by the German public broadcaster ZDF/3Sat. Their filming included the exterior red carpet, the hallway of the Berlinale Palast, and the theatre interiors. The ceremony started at 7.30pm local time. Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian were joined on stage by Jury President Kristen Stewart and further speakers.
The Rebecca Miller directed She Came to Me was the special opening ceremony screening. A composer in a creative crisis meets a tugboat captain by chance in a Brooklyn Bar. From here a seemingly unlikely strong bond grows between the two. This funny and sophisticated comedy drama is set against a backdrop of a socially divided America. Peter Dinklage, Marisa Tomei and Anne Hathaway are the leading stars who shine in their roles. Ultimately, this was a heartening and entertaining way to begin the festival.
Eighteen films from around the world will compete in competition for the Silver and Golden Bears. There are also sixteen films also in the second competition, Encounters. The program conspicuously omitted films from Russia this year. However, Sean Penn’s documentary Superpower represents the omnipresence of the Ukraine conflict. Otherwise, films like Honary Bear inductee Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans are intended to be a lighter affair.
One film in the main competition, Blackberry, is adapted from the bestselling book “Losing the Signal”. Directed by Matt Johnson, it chronicles the rise and rapid fall of the world’s first Smartphone. Glenn Howerton and Jay Buruchel are the central characters who play the fallen business partners. Commendable in art direction is the authentic period detail from the early 1990s to the late 2000s. Moreover, Blackberry humorously portrays the world of fast-paced business, corruption, and the pressure of staying ahead
This year’s Berlinale Award Ceremony will take place on Saturday 25th February.
By Steven Yates