Tagged Berlinale

While making comparisons is nearly always reductive, Call Me By Your Name feels like Brokeback Mountain via Richard Linklater – which hopefully sounds like a compliment because it is meant as a huge one. It...

Colo purports to be a kitchen sink-style drama, which is apt: watching it is about as enthralling as washing the dishes. Teresa Villaverde concerns her art with the economic crisis and how such events can...

Sequels are a curious and fickle species, particularly the breed that has come to most prominence in the last few years: the legacy followup. Always ready to cannibalise when they need to, film producers seem...

It is hard not to think that when Sabu set about writing, and eventually getting in the chair for, Mr. Long, he hadn't just got up from watching Refn's Drive for the umpteenth time. So, is this the Eastern...

Alex Gibney sits comfortably beside the likes of Asif Kapadia and Joshua Oppenheimer as one of the best documentarians working today. After the likes of Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, the Oscar winning...

An original and leftfield look at the Afro-Eurasian migrant crisis of recent years, Fire at Sea is, more than anything, a showcase for the extraordinary intelligence of its director, Gianfranco Rosi. The...

Malick poses questions about purpose and life whilst running on an empty tank. As expected, Emmanuel Lubezki (DP for Gravity and Birdman) achieves wonders for Malick, transforming urban landscapes and GoPro...

Rambunctious, kinetic, and aggressively styled, Eisenstein in Guanajuato is Peter Greenaway’s best film in years. This tale of Sergei Eisenstein’s sexual awakening in Mexico is overflowing with vim and...

Where to Invade Next is an amusing if somewhat shallow address of the various socioeconomic problems currently facing the United States. Idealism is admirable, but Moore's simplification of the potential...

The world is determined by borders; some are literal borders that separate states, while others are imagined borders that fundamentally shape identity and govern belonging. Both, however, provide the...

There is a sense that A Quiet Passion might have worked more effectively as a stage play - an aspect no doubt contributed to by its interiority and restrictive budget - yet Davies' Dickinson biopic is...

Jeff Nichols is a great filmmaker. That Midnight Special comes close to greatness is undeniable - its first hour is a deliriously inventive, utterly arresting cosmic thriller that keeps its cards very close to...

As soon as the lights dim, Ten No Chasuke detonates into hilarious and fascinating existence. Armed with an inimitable concept, Sabu fearlessly dives in with a relentless arsenal of one liners and visual...

Life begins with exciting momentum. It enjoys high quality writing and is genuinely funny at times. It is aesthetically impactful. So what’s the problem? Good writing does not necessarily equal a good...

How do you add tension to a story when the audience is already aware of your conclusion? Hirschbiegel wisely focuses Elser‘s attention upon the individual, exploring the why and what rather than the drama...