February 12, 2008

Berlinale, 2/12.

Berlinale In the Independent, Kaleem Aftab profiles Mike Leigh, whose Happy-Go-Lucky sees its world premiere tonight at the Berlinale. This is one fun movie, folks, the only real out-n-out comedy to screen in Competition so far, and, personally, I give it a B+.

Other tentative letter grades on films for which I'll soon be writing up short entries:

Revanche "A meandering first half gives way to a spectacular psychological portrait of the deafening silence of pain and loneliness in Austrian writer-director Götz Spielmann's Revanche," writes Boyd van Hoeij. Also at european-films.net, more terrific photos by Fabrizio Maltese.

"Jacques Doillon arrests a strange, almost uncanny kind of intimacy from his new film, the almost-masterpiece Le Premier venu (Just Anybody)," writes Daniel Kasman in the Auteurs' Notebook. Also: Audrey Estrougo's directorial debut Regarde-moi.

Patrick Z McGavin sends his first dispatch at Stop Smiling.

At indieWIRE: Shane Danielsen on Julia, Transsiberian, Leo and the Wakamatsu retro.

Twitch's Todd Brown listens in on the buzz.

Spiegel Online reports on Patti Smith's multimedia presence in Berlin at the moment.

And then, great news from our good friends at Benten Films: They'll be bringing Matthias Glasner's stunning Der Freie Wille (The Free Will) to North America on DVD. Longtime readers may (or of course, may not) remember that this was my favorite film to screen at the Berlinale in 2006.

Posted by dwhudson at February 12, 2008 3:16 PM

Comments

Aw, drat. You didn't like the new Doris Dorrie, eh? Darn, I was hopeful on that one.

Can't wait for the new Leigh, though.


cp

Posted by: Craig P at February 12, 2008 7:26 PM

I shall never ever forget "Die Frei Wille". Saw it early in the morning at Berlinale, felt like my insides had been scraped out. Wow. Very keen to watch US release response.

Asked at dinner this week, "Did you think it was good?", a question I find very hard to answer. Skilled, heartfelt, unforgettable...

The opening and closing scenes of To's "Sparrow" were probably my favourite moments of Berlin to date. Didn't think the whole film works, but would not want to have missed beauty like that. Glad you dug it, look forward to your A - review.

Are you seeing What No-one Knows?

Posted by: via collins at February 12, 2008 10:56 PM

Craig, Dörrie's film actually works for the first while... then we're off to Japan, and I just sort of felt embarrassed for everyone involved.

via collins, Sparrow comes this close here and there to breaking into dance numbers, doesn't it?

What No-one Knows... hm, I'll see! Meantime, drop a line if you'd like to meet up for coffee between screenings, ok?

Posted by: David Hudson at February 12, 2008 11:50 PM