Berlin International Film Festival · 2009
Its function is to honour great cinema personalities by showing their films and to immerse audiences in cinematic history by screening film classics. Films which deserve special attention due to current events can also be shown as part of the Berlinale Special.
16 films · 7 reviews
The characters in this film suffer torment and pain, much like the audience.
(Country: Germany, US, Israel; Year: 2008; Director: Paul Schrader; Writer: Yoram Kaniuk, Noah Stollman; Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Derek Jacobi, Ayelet Zurer, Moritz Bleibtreu, Joachim Krol, Juliane Köhler)
Although we are talking age old themes here – first love, dodgy geezers, questions of class – the material is spectacularly well handled.
(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Lone Scherfig; Writer: Nick Hornby, based on a memoir by Lynn Barber; Stars: Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina, Cara Seymour, Emma Thompson, Sally Hawkins, Rosamund Pike, Dominic Cooper, Olivia Williams, Matthew Beard) , Trailer
Berlinale Special Gala
Though well executed, there isn’t a great deal to elevate the story beyond a solid genre piece.
(Country: France; Year: 2009; Director: Claude Chabrol; Writer: Odile Barski, Claude Chabrol; Stars: Gérard Depardieu, Clovis Cornillac, Vahina Giocante, Jacques Gamblin, Marie Bunel, Yves Verhoeven, Adrienne Pauly, Rodolphe Pauly, Marie Matheron)
Berlinale Special Homage
(Country: Germany; Year: 1999; Director: Detlef Gumm, Hans-Georg Ullrich; Writer: Detlef Gumm, Hans-Georg Ullrich)
(Country: US; Year: 2007; Director: Francois Vogel)
Berlinale Special Gala
(Country: Portugal, Spain, France; Year: 2009; Director: Manoel de Oliveira; Writer: Eça de Queirós, Manoel de Oliveira; Stars: Júlia Buisel, Luís Miguel Cintra, Glória de Matos, Diogo Dória, Miguel Guilherme, Paulo Matos, Rogério Samora, Carlos Santos, Leonor Silveira, Ricardo Trêpa, Filipe Vargas, Rogério Vieira, Catarina Wallenstein)
(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Hermine Huntgeburth; Stars: Julia Jentsch, Sebastian Koch, Misel Maticevic, Juliane Köhler, Thomas Thieme)
Berlinale Special Homage
(Country: China; Year: 2009; Director: Christina Yao; Stars: Aaron Kwok, Tie Lin Zhang, Hao Lei, Jennifer Tilly, Ding Zhi Cheng, Lei Zhen Yu, King Shih Chieh)
(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Adam Del Deo, James D. Stern; Stars: Bob Avian, Michael Bennett, Charlotte d'Amboise, Ramon Flowers, Jessica Lee Goldyn)
The subject is much too large and diverse to cram into 94 minutes, but Kenner spends his time wisely, ramming home bullet points with irrefutable evidence and impressive research.
(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Robert Kenner; Writer: Robert Kenner, Elise Pearlstein, Kim Roberts; Stars: Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser) , Official site
Berlinale Special Gala
(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Kai Wessel; Writer: Hildegard Knef, Maria von Heland; Stars: Heike Makatsch, Dan Stevens, Johanna Gastdorf, Hanns Zischler, Monica Bleibtreu, Sylvester Groth, Michael Gwisdek, Hary Prinz, Matthew Dylan Roberts, Jeroen Willems)
Berlinale Special Gala
(Country: Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Michael Ballhaus, Ciro Cappellari; Writer: Ciro Cappellari; Stars: Alexander Hacke, Maybrit Illner, Dieter Kosslick, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Nele Winkler, Klaus Wowereit)
Intelligent, well-constructed visuals work effectively in tandem with what is being said by the musicians and save us from the stale talking-heads format.
(Country: US; Year: 2008; Director: Davis Guggenheim; Stars: Jimmy Page, The Edge, Jack White)
Berlinale Special Gala
(Country: France, China, Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Florian Gallenberger; Writer: Florian Gallenberger; Stars: Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi, Jingchu Zhang, Anne Consigny, Dagmar Manzel, Gottfried John, Teruyuki Kagawa, Yu Fang, Mathias Herrmann)
Berlinale Special Gala
There are some good ideas here, and bursts of insight into strategies that really do seem to be working.
(Country: Italy; Year: 2008; Director: Ermanno Olmi)
Predictably, as the ending arrives we learn absolutely nothing or witness anything different that we didn't see coming halfway through.
(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Rudolf Thome; Writer: Rudolf Thome; Stars: Hannah Herzsprung, Guntram Brattia, Florian Panzner, Cornelius Schwalm, Radhe Schiff, Frieder Venus, Tonio Arango, Selda Kaya, Rosa Enskat, Christina Hecke)
59th New York Film Festival early bird highlights Futura, Jane By Charlotte, James Baldwin: From Another Place and The Velvet Underground
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