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Karlovy Vary International Film Festival · 2013

Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2013

Official Selection

Programme

20 films · 14 reviews

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11.6

Review preview for 11.6

Immensely satisfying and riveting.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
Psychological exploration of a security driver who pulled of a multimillion euro heist.

(Country: France, Belgium; Year: 2013; Director: Philippe Godeau; Writer: Philippe Godeau, Agnès de Sacy, based on the book by Alice Géraud-Arfi; Stars: François Cluzet, Bouli Lanners, Corinne Masiero)

Full review

Behind The Candelabra

Review preview for Behind The Candelabra

It is quite something to witness Douglas and Damon embrace the characters quite so authentically.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
The story of legendarily flamboyant entertainer Liberace and the man who loved him.

(Country: US; Year: 2013; Director: Steven Soderbergh; Writer: Richard LaGravenese, Alex Thorleifson, Scott Thorson; Stars: Matt Damon, Michael Douglas, Rob Lowe, Dan Aykroyd, Scott Bakula, Caroline Jaden Stussi, Debbie Reynolds, Max Napolitano, Boyd Holbrook, Paul Reiser, Nicky Katt, Cheyenne Jackson, Eddie Jemison, Kiff VandenHeuvel, Tom Papa)

Full review See: Article about Michael Douglas attending the Deauville Festival of American Cinema , Matt Damon, Michael Douglas and Steven Soderbergh on Behind The Candelabra

Out of competition.

Bluebird

Review preview for Bluebird

The story-telling is low key and muted, as befits the characters, but the unremitting sense of melancholia weighs heavily on the film and the viewer.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A small incident spirals into tragedy.

(Country: US; Year: 2012; Director: Lance Edmands; Writer: Lance Edmands; Stars: Amy Morton, Louisa Krause, Margo Martindale, John Slattery, Emily Meade)

Full review

A Field In England

Review preview for A Field In England

A kaleidoscopic sequence explores questions of identity through some of the trippiest black and white imagery you'll have seen on the big screen for a long time.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Four men have a strange encounter during the English Civil War.

(Country: UK; Year: 2013; Director: Ben Wheatley; Writer: Amy Jump; Stars: Michael Smiley, Reece Shearsmith, Peter Ferdinando, Ryan Pope, Julian Barratt)

Full review

Le Grand Cahier (A Nagy Füzet)

A hard-hitting adaptation of the controversial first novel by Hungarian writer Agota Kristof about 13-year-old twins forced to spend the last years of the Second World War with their cruel grandmother somewhere near the Hungarian border.

(Country: Hungary, Germany, Austria, France; Year: 2013; Director: János Szász)

Honeymoon (Líbánky)

Review preview for Honeymoon

Hřebejk's pacing is perfect with each revelation timed to intrigue and pull you further into the mystery.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
When an uninvited guest turns up, a wedding day turns sour.

(Country: Czech Republic, Slovak Republic; Year: 2013; Director: Jan Hřebejk)

Full review

Houston

Clemens Trunschka is a corporate headhunter and an alcoholic. Drinking increasingly isolates him from his life and leads him away from reality. While searching for a CEO candidate in Houston, his addiction submerges him into his own darkness.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Bastian Günther; Writer: Bastian Günther; Stars: Ulrich Tukur, Garret Dillahunt, Wolfram Koch, Jenny Schily, Jason Douglas, Jens Münchow)

Out of competition.

Long Live Freedom (Viva La Libertà)

Review preview for Long Live Freedom

Part farce, part political commentary, part soul-searching device.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
After an under-pressure politician disappears, his look-alike brother fills the gap... and starts to win popular support.

(Country: Italy; Year: 2013; Director: Roberto Andò; Writer: Roberto Andò, Roberto Andò, Angelo Pasquini; Stars: Toni Servillo, Valerio Mastandrea, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Michela Cescon, Gianrico Tedeschi, Eric Nguyen, Andrea Renzi, Judith Davis, Brice Fournier, Paolo Bessegato, Giulia Andò, Alessandro Averone, Vincenzo Pirrotta, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Antonio Gerardi)

Full review See: Interview with Roberto Andò about Long Live Freedom

Mood Indigo

Review preview for Mood Indigo

The overkill threatens to bludgeon the much-loved book into an over-wrought exercise in style.

Richard Mowe · 2 out of 5
This dreamlike story of two pairs of lovers, a cook and a kitchen mouse is an adaptation of the cult novel by French writer Boris Vian.

(Country: Belgium; Year: 2013; Director: Michel Gondry; Writer: Luc Bossi, based on the novel by Boris Vian; Stars: Romain Duris, Audrey Tautou, Omar Sy, Michel Gondry)

Full review See: Michel Gondry and Audrey Tautou in conversation on Mood Indigo

Out of competition.

My Father's House (Das Haus Meines Vaters)

A car stands parked in the middle of a meadow, and a woman brings the driver his morning coffee. Who are these people, and why did the man apparently sleep away from home when someone close to him was nearby?

(Country: Austria; Year: 2013; Director: Ludwig Wüst)

Out of competition.

Papusza

Review preview for Papusza

Managing for the most part to avoid the clichés of portraying the gypsy milieu, it has the stamp of authenticity.

Richard Mowe · 4 out of 5
The story of the famous Romany poet.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2013; Director: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze; Writer: Joanna Kos-Krauze, Krzysztof Krauze; Stars: Jowita Budnik, Joanna Niemirska, Antoni Pawlicki)

Full review

A Place In Heaven (Makom Be Gan Eden)

A much decorated general once made a crucial mistake: with typical arrogance he exchanged his place in heaven for a plate of food. The central theme – a father-son relationship – is played out over the course of four decades of turbulent history in the State of Israel.

(Country: Israel; Year: 2013; Director: Joseph Madmony)

The Priest's Children (Svećenikova Djeca)

Review preview for The Priest's Children

Extremely engaging and frequently side-splittingly funny

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
A young priest is appalled at the very low birthrate in his new community. When the confession of a local tobacconist reveals the reason why, he opts for a rather unusual method for rectifying the situation.

(Country: Croatia, Serbia; Year: 2012; Director: Vinko Brešan; Writer: Mate Matisic ; Stars: Kresimir Mikic, Niksa Butijer, Marija Skaricic)

Full review

Revival

A rock group plans a comeback.

(Country: Czech Republic; Year: 2013; Director: Alice Nellis; Stars: Bolek Polívka, Miroslav Krobot, Karel Heřmánek, Marián Geišberg)

Out of competition.

September

Review preview for September

The performances of Kora Karvouni as Anna and Maria Skoula as Sophia are captivating.

Robert Munro · 4.5 out of 5
Anna, a taciturn 30-something, lives in a small flat with her dog Manu, who means everything to her. After a distressing incident which disrupts her life, Anna attaches herself to the family of Sofia, a happily married woman and mother of two children.

(Country: Greece, Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Penny Panayotopoulou; Writer: Penny Panayotopoulou, Kallia Papadaki; Stars: Nikos Diamandis, Kora Karvouni, Youlika Skafida, Maria Skoula, Christos Stergioglou)

Full review

Shame

A half-crumbling military base in northern Russia is home to a community of women whose husbands are out at sea. The women patiently wait out the long days, hoping that their men will come back safely from their mission this time as well.

(Country: Russia; Year: 2013; Director: Yusup Razykov)

Sources Of Life (Quellen des Lebens)

Review preview for Sources Of Life

Roehler casts a distinctly critical and jaundiced eye over his compatriots across three generations but he leaves room for compassion and even a touch of sentimentality.

Richard Mowe · 3 out of 5
The destinies of three generations confront German history from the postwar era up until the 1980s.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2013; Director: Oskar Roehler; Writer: Oskar Roehler; Stars: Jürgen Vogel, Moritz Bleibtreu, Meret Becker, Lavinia Wilson, Kostja Ullmann)

Full review

The Value Of Time (O Ouro De Tempo)

Review preview for The Value Of Time

The pacing is slow and deliberate while this eccentric individual with a strong moral streak makes for a less than engaging lead character.

Richard Mowe · 2 out of 5
The tale of an aging doctor who, for over 40 years, has been devotedly tending a bizarre “domestic grave” containing his beloved wife.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2013; Director: Xavier Bermúdez)

Full review

Whitewash

Review preview for Whitewash

The absurdly marvellous timing Haden Church has with Labrèche when they discuss glass eyes or the future, makes Whitewash also wonderfully, desperately funny.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 4.5 out of 5
A man finds an encounter with a stranger changes his life forever.

(Country: Canada; Year: 2012; Director: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais; Writer: Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais, Marc Tulin; Stars: Thomas Haden Church, Marc Labrèche, Vincent Hoss-Desmarais, Geneviève Laroche, Isabelle Nélisse)

Full review See: Interview with Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais about Whitewash , Interview with Thomas Haden Church and Marc Labrèche about Whitewash.

Out of competition.

XL

Review preview for XL

Doubtless the director thought the style would serve its narrative but it only alienates.

Richard Mowe · 1 out of 5
Deputy Leifur is a total wreck. Nonstop parties, hangovers, sexual escapades and drug abuse have gnawed his life to the bone. He decides to throw his last party before entering rehab. How will it turn out?

(Country: Iceland; Year: 2013; Director: Marteinn Thorsson; Writer: Marteinn Thorsson, Marteinn Thorsson, Gudmundur Óskarsson; Stars: Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, María Birta, Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir, Elma Lísa Gunnarsdóttir, Þorsteinn Bachmann, Helgi Björnsson, Rúnar Guðbrandsson, Margrét Helga Jóhannsdóttir, Hafdís Helga Helgadóttir, Snorri Ásmundsson, Tanja Björk Ómarsdóttir, Monika Ewa Orlowska, Edda Arnljótsdóttir, Ævar Þór Benediktsson, Þráinn Bertelsson)

Full review