Berlin International Film Festival — A–Z of films

Pollard and Forsyth, who have previously worked with Cave on Bad Seeds videos, turn inner states into inhabitable rooms. What is real and what is unreal is not for the audience to guess.

There is no effort to sanitise characters' lives in order to get a message across, and as a result the film never feels preachy.

Burke is interested in people not politics, keeping the focus on the sudden outbreaks of inhumanity and humanity in the madness, expertly crafting his thriller from the swirling fog of war.

Bradley Cooper as Richie gives the finest madcap performance of his career.

There's no shying away from the fact that the New Age, twig-built mumbo-jumbo peddled here is no match from the otherworldly ancient belief systems of Peru that flow through Llosa's earlier works.

This sympathetic and thoughtful portrayal of the many faces of marriage avoids clichés about the good old days as well as the bad ones.

A painstakingly deliberate neo-noir, heavy on atmosphere and taking its time to build.

Intimate and insightful even in its weaker moments, Linklater finds strength and value in normality.

Both of Decker's feature films are characterised by intensity, for good and ill.

Meticulously planned and executed, it pioneers a number of important cinematic techniques.

Although displaying much of the barbed wit of his first film, this is a more measured and moving work.

It just goes to show that for tens of thousands, the Sixties was a distant cry from sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.

A collage of archival footage, carefully curated to create a provocative think piece.

Poignant and robustly entertaining.

Though it's never less than engaging, there's a nagging sense of missing out on the bigger picture.

If you're willing to go with the flow, this study of emotion develops and maintains a sensual and sensory intensity.

Its plot unfolds in fits and starts, like summer holidays remembered.

The film staggers from one embarrassment to the next.

An emotionally engaging tale that sucks you in with its gentle humour and melancholy.

With the pacing so glacial, the predictable story is likely to prove fatal for all but the most patient viewers.

The neat trick of Aakeson and Moland is to balance the humour with unexpected moments of poignancy and humanity as fathers from both sides of the criminal tracks share the common ground of parenthood.

Where is the plot? What is the hook?

You should be puzzled.

Ivo Pietzcker's performance is amazing.

A meditative miniature of hypnotic grace.

Côté deliberately refuses to manufacture a conclusion, leaving it to us to make of it what we will.

The rules of the funny games of fiction and documentary do not apply here - as long as the addictions are taken care of, anything goes.

Kes is one of those films that's perhaps dwarfed by its reputation; it's a deeply personal and humble little film at its core.

As Kumiko’s journey takes her deeper into Minnesota, the breathtaking ‘Americana’ landscapes and intriguingly surreal score work together to suggest a heightened state, or a fable.

If the characters are focused on how and if, for us the question why lingers in the air.

A warm-hearted film which moves effortlessly between scenes of suffering and side-splitting comedy, Looking For Eric is a real gem.

Courageous and uncompromising

The film becomes a mixture of Dad's Army and The Cockleshell Heroes (without the cockleshells).

It's not so much kitchen sink, as tenement trauma.

Extensive talk about the importance of serendipity in the wine making process suggests that Nossiter is taking a similar approach to his film, hoping the diversity of ingredients will generate something interesting, but he's only partly successful.

The unknown cast are magnificent, the humour and banter very Yorkshire.

It's a film that goes out of its way to provoke and disappoint, but to those who get its jokes and can cope with the rest, it's a delight.

A truly remarkable film.

Unlike many examples of cinema from an earlier generation, Rebel Without A Cause is dynamic edge-of-the-seat viewing many years on.

As a reflection of the mood and struggles of those seeking democratic change it is immersive and visceral even if its up close and personal approach means that the political sphere is rendered in broad brushstroke terms.

The mix of action and satire also turns it into an absorbing hell of a ride.

Almost perfectly constructed... a stunning piece of filmmaking.

Gaite Jansen is compelling in the central role, holding the film together with the sort of assurance that's rare in actors twice her age.

Laverty's script is so bare of sentiment, it hurts.

A poor rip-off of Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project.

Wu keeps us caring with an intense yet nuanced performance, as if relishing the chance to break out of the romantic hero mould that characterised his early career.

The plot may be clear and the tonal shifts from comedy to erotica and horror impressively handled but the character motivations are frustratingly fuzzy.

Patricia Highsmith on a low flame

Ultimately, the Unknown Known is what you don't know you know. This film is a reminder.

By sporadically renouncing traditional reverse shots, Ribeiro gives us an impression of what it is like to be denied a certain gaze - but the director uses this effect with caution.

In this fish-out-of-water comedy, mundanity is key.

Unique in humour, unique in form

The actors have great chemistry and potently communicate things about human behavior in relationships, universal and specific, self-destructive and kind.