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Berlin International Film Festival · 2009

Berlin International Film Festival 2009

Competition

Films from around the world, which will vie for the Golden and Silver Bears.

Programme

16 films · 11 reviews

Jump to a film

About Elly (Darbareye Elly)

Review preview for About Elly

By allowing a slow-build to his drama, he ensures we get a feel for the extended family dynamic before wrong-footing the characters and his audience with the suddeness and deftness of a heartbeat.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
A matchmaking trip to the coast leads to tragedy.

(Country: Iran; Year: 2009; Director: Asghar Farhadi; Writer: Asghar Farhadi; Stars: Golshifteh Farahani, Taraneh Alidoosti, Marila Zare'i, Rana Azadvar, Shahab Hosseini, Saber Abbar)

Full review See: Tribeca Film Festival Diary and Film/Movie reviews: Departures, The Eclipse, Timer, Fish Child , Tribeca Film Festival Movie Reviews/Diary 2009

Alle Anderen

A couple's relationship is threatened after an encounter with another couple.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2008; Director: Maren Ade; Writer: Maren Ade; Stars: Birgit Minichmayr, Lars Eidinger, Paula Hartmann, Nicole Marischka, Atef Vogel, Hans-Jochen Wagner)

Chéri (Cheri)

Review preview for Chéri

The script is, at times, very funny, though the use of a very droll narration is unnecessary.

Darren Amner · 3 out of 5
An retired courtesan embarks on a passionate love affair with the son of a former colleague.

(Country: UK; Year: 2009; Director: Stephen Frears; Writer: Colette, Christopher Hampton, Christopher Hampton; Stars: Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend, Felicity Jones, Frances Tomelty, Anita Pallenberg, Harriet Walter, Iben Hjejle, Bette Bourne, Gaye Brown)

Full review

Forever Enthralled (Mei Lanfang)

Biographic account of the Chinese opera star.

(Country: China; Year: 2008; Director: Kaige Chen; Writer: Kaige Chen, Geling Yan, Kuo-fu Chen; Stars: Leon Lai, Zhang Ziyi, Sun Honglei, Chen Hon)

Gigante

Review preview for Gigante

Engagement with this film requires patience and hinges on the performance of Camandule.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
A store security guard becomes obssessed with a cleaner.

(Country: Uruguay, Argentina, Germany, Spain; Year: 2009; Director: Adrián Biniez; Writer: Adrián Biniez; Stars: Horacio Camandule, Leonor Svarcas)

Full review

Happy Tears

Two sisters find their relationships threatened by their father's increasing senility.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Mitchell Lichtenstein; Writer: Mitchell Lichtenstein; Stars: Demi Moore, Parker Posey, Rip Torn, Ellen Barkin, Christian Camargo, Billy Magnussen, Sebastian Roché, Victor Slezak, T. Ryder Smith, Richard Barlow)

In The Electric Mist

Review preview for In The Electric Mist

The fusion of the crime thriller’s grim reality with the otherworldly fantasy of the ghostly confederate army is, for the most part, very effective.

Adam Micklethwaite · 4 out of 5
A detective probing a series of murders begins to suspect they are linked to a previous case.

(Country: US, France; Year: 2009; Director: Bertrand Tavernier; Writer: Jerzy Kromolowski, Mary Olson-Kromolowski, based on the novel by James Lee Burke; Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, John Goodman, Peter Sarsgaard, Kelly Macdonald, Mary Steenburgen, Justina Machado, Ned Beatty, James Gammon, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Levon Helm)

Full review See: Berlin Film Festival Diary: Day Five , Berlin Diary: Day Three - Beast Stalker and In The Electric Mist press conference

Katalin Varga

Review preview for Katalin Varga

Strickland reveals an eye for landscape and place that for me recalled early Werner Herzog.

Keith Hennessey Brown · 4 out of 5
A woman is disowned after it is discovered that she has been raped, prompting her to seek revenge.

(Country: Romania, UK, Hungary; Year: 2009; Director: Peter Strickland; Writer: Peter Strickland, Peter Strickland; Stars: Hilda Péter, Norbert Tankó, Tibor Pálfy, Sebastian Marina, Melinda Kántor)

Full review

Little Soldier (Lille Soldat)

Review preview for Little Soldier

Little Soldier makes us face some of the hardest questions we may never want to answer.

Chris · 4 out of 5
A psychologically damaged soldier returns from war and becomes a chauffeur for her father's prostitutes, finding frienship in an unlikely place.

(Country: Denmark; Year: 2008; Director: Annette K. Olesen; Writer: Kim Fupz Aakeson; Stars: Trine Dyrholm, Finn Nielsen, Lorna Brown, Rasmus Botoft, Jens Jørgen Spottag)

Full review

London River

Review preview for London River

Emotional explorations are the life-blood of London River, but it is clogged up by the weight of sorrow running through it.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
Two parents from very different backgrounds hunt their missing children after the London terror attacks.

(Country: UK, France; Year: 2009; Director: Rachid Bouchareb; Writer: Rachid Bouchareb; Stars: Brenda Blethyn, Sotigui Kouyaté, Sami Bouajila, Roschdy Zem) , Official site

Full review See: San Sebastian Film Festival: Day Seven report and reviews - London River, Yuki & Nina

Mammoth

Review preview for Mammoth

The plot and characterisation feel subordinate to the social commentary.

Adam Micklethwaite · 2.5 out of 5
Multi-strand story about life changes, sees a businessman affected by a trip to Thailand, his family affected by their Filipino maid, and the maid's family's trials without her.

(Country: Sweden, Denmark, Germany; Year: 2009; Director: Lukas Moodysson; Writer: Lukas Moodysson; Stars: Gael Garcia Bernal, Michelle Williams, Marife Necesito, Sophie Nyweide, Run Srinikornchot, Tom McCarthy, Jan Nicdao)

Full review

The Messenger

Review preview for The Messenger

There is no escaping the weightiness of the subject matter and Movermann treats it with the necessary respect, but he also shows evidence of a lighter touch, which helps to alleviate the pathos and prevents the film sliding into melodrama.

Adam Micklethwaite · 4 out of 5
Two soldiers form a unique bond as they cope with their assignment with the Army Casualty Notification department.

(Country: US; Year: 2009; Director: Oren Moverman; Writer: Alessandro Camon, Oren Moverman; Stars: Ben Foster, Jena Malone, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Eamonn Walker, Peter Friedman, Gaius Charles, Halley Feiffer, Merritt Wever, Jeremy Strong)

Full review See: Q&A with Samantha Morton about The Messenger , Berlin Film Festival Diary: Day Five

The Milk Of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada)

Review preview for The Milk Of Sorrow

Although the layers of symbolism and allegory certainly add to the depth of the film's resonance, those who consider it purely as a more simply magic realist-inflected coming of age tale are unlikely to be disappointed either.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Examination of Peru's dark history refracted through the story of a woman struck with an illness from her mother's breast milk.

(Country: Spain, Peru; Year: 2008; Director: Claudia Llosa; Writer: Claudia Llosa; Stars: Magaly Solier, Susi Sànchez, Efraín Solís, Marino Ballón, Delci Heredia)

Full review See: Claudia Llosa interview about The Milk Of Sorrow

My One And Only

An unfaithful wife bundles her kids in the car and heads on an odyssey that will see all of them grow up.

(Country: USA; Year: 2009; Director: Richard Loncraine; Writer: Charlie Peters; Stars: Renée Zellweger, Kevin Bacon, Logan Lerman, Mark Rendall)

Rage

A death at a fashion show sparks a murder investigation.

(Country: US, UK; Year: 2009; Director: Sally Potter; Writer: Sally Potter; Stars: Judi Dench, Jude Law, Dianne Wiest, Steve Buscemi, Simon Abkarian)

Ricky

Review preview for Ricky

Although Ozon never quite makes his mind up about the tone of the piece, the weird juxtaposition of the normal and abnormal is mostly effective.

Adam Micklethwaite · 3 out of 5
Story of two ordinary people who go on to have a most extraordinary child.

(Country: France, Italy; Year: 2009; Director: François Ozon; Writer: François Ozon; Stars: Alexandra Lamy, Sergi López, Mélusine Mayance, Arthur Peyret, Jean-Claude Bolle-Reddat, André Wilms) , Official site , Trailer

Full review