Berlinale, 2/16.

On Thursday, Arthur Penn was awarded an "Honorary Golden Bear because, according to the festival press office, he is 'one of the most innovative American film-makers of his time,'" notes Ronald Bergan. "Perhaps the key to the recent invisibility of Penn, now 84, lies in the phrase 'of his time.'"

Also in the Guardian, Geoffrey Macnab talks with Marianne Faithfull about Irina Palm.

More British coverage: James Christopher in the London Times on La Môme and the Telegraph's Tim Robey on 300.

Seen today:

• Obsluhoval jsem anglického krále (I Served the King of England): B+. Couldn't help but smile from the very first shot through the last: Jirí Menzel is aging happily. Related: Kate Connolly in the Guardian: "Lies, legal battles, broken promises and public canings - the story behind the film adaptation of Bohumil Hrabal's novel I Served the King of England is worthy of one of the late Czech writer's own plots."

• Hallam Foe: C-. The consensus of a post-screening round over coffee: Sundance fare that actually would have fared a lot better than many other films in this year's Sundance lineup, but nonetheless, a film that has no business in the Berlinale Competition.

• Ping Guo (Lost in Beijing): B. Variety reports that the version screened today for the press and public is the version untouched by Chinese censors.

Posted by dwhudson at February 16, 2007 1:37 PM