Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale)

02/10/2022

Festival Reviews

Superpower

Superpower

Actor and activist Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman codirect a diary-like travelogue through war-torn Ukraine, highlighted by three brief interviews with Pres. Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Echo

The Echo

Mexican-Salvadoran director Tatiana Huezo returns with The Echo to her first cinematographic love in this moving and beautifully photographed documentary about teenagers in a Puebla community.

The Beast in the Jungle

The Beast in the Jungle

Had Henry James been alive and well in the 1980s, it’s unlikely you would have ever seen him getting busy on the dance floor. He probably wouldn’t have even set foot in a nightclub. And yet director Patric Chiha has had the rather novel idea to take one of the...

The Siren

The Siren

Iranian director Sepideh Farsi opens a revelatory and very chilling window on a city under siege by a foreign power in her powerful, animated coming-of-ager, ‘The Siren’.

Iron Butterflies

Iron Butterflies

The downing of Malaysian Airlines’ passenger flight MH17 in 2014 over Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine becomes a prophetic and highly symbolic event portending the current war and its methods in Roman Liubyi’s doc, whose poetry can seem forced but is still capable of shocking.

Fogaréu

Fogaréu

Debuting director Flávia Neves throws far too many elements into her overstuffed Gothic-tinged plot, intriguing enough to hold attention but too convoluted to withstand criticism.

Taurus

Taurus

Musician Colson Baker, aka Machine Gun Kelly, plays a drug-damaged pop star in director Tim Sutton’s ‘Taurus’, a stylishly sleazy but self-indulgent depiction of toxic fame.

Millie Lies Low

Millie Lies Low

Millie foolishly lies low but the film should stand tall given how well it captures the excruciatingly relatable tribulations of a young New Zealand woman who digs herself into a very deep hole while attempting to preserve other peoples’ expectations.

Unrest

Unrest

Cyril Schäublin’s Berlin prize-winner ‘Unrest’ is a playful, gently subversive, precision-tooled drama about anarchist watch-makers in 19th century Switzerland.

Working Class Heroes

Working Class Heroes

The band of rowdy construction workers at the heart of Serbian director Milos Pusic’s dark new dramedy are not your typical Working Class Heroes, and the film’s title is meant to be taken somewhat ironically, or at least with a sizeable grain of salt. They are,...

Axiom

Axiom

Jöns Jönsson’s intriguing slow-burner about a charismatic fabulist occasionally challenges our suspension of disbelief, but its exacting evocation of atmosphere nicely plays on the tension between normality and disruption.

Nelly & Nadine

Nelly & Nadine

The latest from Swedish documentary director Magnus Gertten (‘Becoming Zlatan’) has an incredible true romance at its heart that is almost overwhelmed by less interesting material.

The Novelist’s Film

The Novelist’s Film

Hong Sang-soo’s 27th feature, and his third in competition in Berlin in as many years, offers his trademark acerbic humor, anchored by veteran Korean actress Lee Hye-young’s caustic turn as an embittered writer.

The Forger

The Forger

Maggie Peren’s evocation of young, reckless Jewish forger Cioma Schönhaus during the dark days of Hitler’s Berlin is strong on physical atmosphere but can’t balance his devil-may-care spunk with a sense of what awaits should he be caught

20,000 Species of Bees

20,000 Species of Bees

Extraordinary for its sensitivity and perception, Estibollz Urresolo Sologuren’s story of an 8-year-old girl’s growing discomfort with being perceived as a boy is a landmark in the filmic discussion of gender, sexuality and identity.

Music

Music

Angela Schanelec returns to Berlin with another weird, challenging film destined to thrive only in ultra-art houses and academic spaces based on its austere approach to narrative enjoyment.

Awards Corner

Berlin

  • for
    Alcarras (Spain, Italy)
    Director: Carla Simon
  • Silver Bear for
    The Novelist's Film (South Korea)
    Director: Hong Sang-soo
  • Silver Bear for
    Robe of Gems (Mexico)
    Director: Natalia Lopez Gallardo
  • Silver Bear for
    Both Sides of the Blade (France)
    Director: Claire Denis
  • Silver Bear for
    Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush (Germany, France)
    Meltem Kaptan
  • Silver Bear for
    Nana | Before, Now & Then (Indonesia)
    Laura Basuki
  • Silver Bear for
    Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush (Germany, France)
    Laila Stieler
  • Silver Bear for
    Everything Will Be OK (Cambodia, France)
    Director: Rithy Panh