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Berlin International Film Festival · 2015

Berlin International Film Festival 2015

Competition

Programme

20 films · 15 reviews

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13 Minutes (Elser)

Review preview for 13 Minutes

There's no doubting the film looks good..But there's a feeling of both too much gloss and of glossing over details.

Amber Wilkinson · 2.5 out of 5
The story of the man who almost killed Hitler.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2015; Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel; Writer: Léonie-Claire Breinersdorfer, Fred Breinersdorfer; Stars: Christian Friedel, Katharina Schüttler, Burghart Klaußner, Johann von Bülow, Felix Eitner, David Zimmerschied, Rüdiger Klink, Simon Licht, Cornelia Köndgen, Martin Maria Abram, Michael Kranz, Gerti Drassl, Lissy Pernthaler, Valentina Repetto, Anna Unterberger)

Full review See: Oliver Hirschbiegel on 13 Minutes, Georg Elser and Back To Back

45 Years

Review preview for 45 Years

To call the film haunting is an understatement.

Luke Shaw · 5 out of 5
A marriage is thrown into turmoil with news of a long dead lover.

(Country: UK; Year: 2015; Director: Andrew Haigh; Writer: Andrew Haigh, based on the short story by David Constantine.; Stars: Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James, Dolly Wells, David Sibley, Sam Alexander, Richard Cunningham, Hannah Chalmers, Max Rudd, Martin Atkinson, Kevin Matadeen, Camille Ucan, Lucy Temple, Paul Goldsmith, Rachel Banham)

Full review See: Andrew Haigh in conversation on 45 Years , Charlotte Rampling in conversation on 45 Years

World premiere.

As We Were Dreaming (Als wir träumten)

Review preview for As We Were Dreaming

The film can't be faulted for atmosphere... structurally, though, the cracks begin to show.

Amber Wilkinson · 3 out of 5
The story of five friends in Leipzig after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

(Country: Germany, France; Year: 2015; Director: Andreas Dresen; Writer: Wolfgang Kohlhaase, Clemens Meyer; Stars: Pit Bukowski, Joel Basman, Ruby O. Fee, Merlin Rose, Gerdy Zint, Dorothea Walda, Peter Schneider, Henning Peker, Marie Luise Stahl, Ramona Kunze-Libnow, Julius Nitschkoff, David Berton, Ronald Kukulies, Joachim Nimtz, Clemens Meyer)

Full review

World premiere.

Aferim!

Review preview for Aferim!

Jude and Lazarescu also show how the structure of society has a habit of making you conform to it, whatever your intentions - a barbed idea intended to stick in the minds of those who live in today's Europe where the Roma still face wide-spread prejudice

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A policeman and his son hunt a runaway gypsy slave.

(Country: Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, France; Year: 2015; Director: Radu Jude; Writer: Radu Jude; Stars: Teodor Corban, Mihai Comanoiu, Toma Cuzin, Alexandru Dabija, Luminita Gheorghiu, Victor Rebengiuc, Alberto Dinache, Alexandru Bindea, Mihaela Sirbu, Adina Cristescu, Serban Pavlu, Gabriel Spahiu, Puiu Mircea Lascus, Daniel Visan)

Full review See: Radu Jude on language, prejudice and seeing the past in the present.

World premiere.

Big Father, Small Father and Other Stories (Saigon Sunny Days, Cha và con và)

In 1990s Saigon, photography student Vu falls in love with his roommate, Thang, a heroin dealer... but what happens when she falls pregnant and he disappears?

(Country: Vietnam; Year: 2015; Director: Dang Di Phan; Stars: Do Thi Hai Yen, Le Cong Hoang, Truong The Vinh)

World premiere.

Body

Review preview for Body

Malgorzata Szumowska takes a playful approach to the subjects of eating disorders and grief with suprisingly effective results.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
A police officer struggles with his daughter's anorexia.

(Country: Poland; Year: 2015; Director: Malgorzata Szumowska; Writer: Malgorzata Szumowska; Stars: Janusz Gajos, Maja Ostaszewska, Justyna Suwala)

Full review

World premiere.

Cinderella

Review preview for Cinderella

The reason Branagh's adaptation of the Charles Perrault tale is a success, is that it sticks fully to the formula of the story and doesn't try to do anything irritatingly postmodern with it.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
Live-action retelling of the classic fairy tale.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Kenneth Branagh; Writer: Chris Weitz; Stars: Lily James, Helena Bonham Carter, Hayley Atwell, Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden, Holliday Grainger, Sophie McShera, Stellan Skarsgård, Nonso Anozie, Derek Jacobi, Ben Chaplin, Laurie Calvert, Eloise Webb, Leila Wong, Zizi Strallen)

Full review

International premiere. Out of competition.

The Club (El Club)

Review preview for The Club

Larraín's judgement when it comes is fiercely Old Testament - harsh, unexpected and fast.

Amber Wilkinson · 4.5 out of 5
A group of priests of various ages lives together with Mónica, a nun, in a house on the Chilean coast. When they are not praying and atoning for their sins, they train their greyhound for the next race.

(Country: Chile; Year: 2015; Director: Pablo Larraín; Writer: Guillermo Calderón, Daniel Villalobos; Stars: Roberto Farías, Antonia Zegers, Alfredo Castro, Alejandro Goic, Alejandro Sieveking, Jaime Vadell, Marcelo Alonso, Jose Soza) , Trailer

Full review

World premiere.

Diary Of A Chambermaid (Journal d'une femme de chambre)

Review preview for Diary Of A Chambermaid

The film, co-written with Hélène Zimmer, functions like exquisite lacework with new patterns emerging at every turn.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 5 out of 5
An alert servant works for a wealthy couple in rural France.

(Country: France; Year: 2015; Director: Benoît Jacquot; Writer: Benoît Jacquot, Hélène Zimmer, based on the novel by Octave Mirbeau; Stars: Léa Seydoux, Vincent Lindon, Vincent Lacoste, Clotilde Mollet, Hervé Pierre)

Full review

World premiere.

Eisenstein In Guanajuato

Review preview for Eisenstein In Guanajuato

Eisenstein is embodied by the fabulous Elmer Bäck, who gallops at the role in the way Liberace might have plunged into a haberdashers.

Amber Wilkinson · 3.5 out of 5
The 10 days that shook Eisenstein.

(Country: Mexico, Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, France; Year: 2015; Director: Peter Greenaway; Writer: Peter Greenaway; Stars: Stelio Savante, Lisa Owen, Maya Zapata, Elmer Bäck, Luis Alberti, Jakob Öhrman, Rasmus Slätis, Raino Ranta)

Full review

World premiere.

Endless Night (Nobody Wants the Night, Nadie quiere la noche)

Adventure film focuses on courageous women and ambitious men who put anything at stake for love and glory.

(Country: Spain; Year: 2015; Director: Isabel Coixet; Writer: Miguel Barros; Stars: Rinko Kikuchi, Juliette Binoche, Gabriel Byrne, Matt Salinger, Velizar Binev, Ciro Miró)

World premiere.

Gone With The Bullets (Yi bu zhi yao)

Beauty contest satire set in 1920s Shanghai.

(Country: China; Year: 2014; Director: Wen Jiang; Writer: Wen Jiang, Junli Guo; Stars: Zhang Wen, Zhiwen Wang, Huang Hung, Harrison Liu, Ying Na, Ben Niu, You Ge, Wen Jiang, Dominique Kelley, Matthew Ray Ruggles, Qi Shu, Nina Wu, Yun Zhou)

World premiere.

Ixcanul (Ixcanul Volcano)

Review preview for Ixcanul

A sensitively handled female coming-of-age tale.

Rebecca Naughten · 3 out of 5
Story of a teenage girl living in the foothills of a volcano, who faces an arranged marriage but is won over by the charms of a plantation worker.

(Country: France, Guatemala; Year: 2015; Director: Jayro Bustamante; Writer: Jayro Bustamante; Stars: María Mercedes Croy, María Telón, Manuel Manuel Antún, Justo Lorenzo, Marvin Coroy)

Full review

World premiere.

Knight Of Cups

Review preview for Knight Of Cups

Malick and his cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, if nothing else, deliver stunningly beautiful vistas and backdrops for his narratives and characters, yet like the characters, there seems to be something empty at its core.

Richard Mowe · 2 out of 5
Targeting the world of showbusiness.

(Country: US; Year: 2015; Director: Terrence Malick; Writer: Terrence Malick; Stars: Joe Manganiello, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Imogen Poots, Natalie Portman, Teresa Palmer, Ben Kingsley, Nick Offerman, Wes Bentley, Joel Kinnaman, Nicky Whelan, Jason Clarke, Isabel Lucas, Antonio Banderas, Freida Pinto)

Full review

World premiere.

Mr. Holmes

Review preview for Mr. Holmes

The trouble is that the film takes great effort to counter everything that makes Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's creation stimulating.

Anne-Katrin Titze · 2.5 out of 5
A retired Sherlock looks back on his life and an unsolved case.

(Country: UK, US; Year: 2015; Director: Bill Condon; Writer: Jeffrey Hatcher, based on the book by Mitch Cullin using characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle.; Stars: Ian McKellen, Milo Parker, Laura Linney, Hattie Morahan, Patrick Kennedy, Hiroyuki Sanada, Roger Allam, Colin Starkey, Philip Davis, Nicholas Rowe, Frances de la Tour, Madeleine Worrall, Sarah Crowden, Takako Akashi, Zak Shukor)

Full review See: Sir Ian McKellen talks Mr Holmes and M Hulot at Deauville Festival of American Cinema , Ian McKellen, Laura Linney and Hiroyuki Sanada host Mr. Holmes NYC premiere

World premiere.

The Pearl Button (Le Bouton de Nacre)

Review preview for The Pearl Button

Looking at all these themes on paper, there is no way they should be able to co-exist within the same film, let alone do so in harmony, but Guzmán lets each wave of thought flow over the other, tributaries of history gathering to a ocean of argument.

Amber Wilkinson · 5 out of 5
Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of two mysterious buttons which were found on its ocean floor.

(Country: Chile, France, Spain; Year: 2015; Director: Patricio Guzmán; Writer: Patricio Guzmán)

Full review

World premiere.

Queen Of The Desert

A chronicle of the life of travller, writer, cartographer and archaeologist Gertrude Bell.

(Country: US, Morocco; Year: 2015; Director: Werner Herzog; Writer: Werner Herzog; Stars: Nicole Kidman, James Franco, Robert Pattinson, Damian Lewis, Jenny Agutter, Holly Earl, Christopher Fulford, David Calder, Renee Faia, Beth Goddard, Mark Lewis Jones, Sarah Crowden, Sophie Linfield, Michael Jenn, Jay Abdo)

World premiere.

Taxi Tehran

Review preview for Taxi Tehran

It’s a wonderfully subversive act...but on its own merits (which I’m sure is how Panahi would want it to be judged) it seemed to me overlong, repetitive and self-indulgent.

Jeff Robson · 2.5 out of 5
An Iranian director forbidden to make movies works as a taxi driver, and installs hidden cameras in his cab…

(Country: Iran ; Year: 2015; Director: Jafar Pahani; Writer: Jafar Panahi; Stars: Jafar Panahi)

Full review

World premiere.

Under Electric Clouds (Pod elektricheskimi oblakami)

An album of interralated stories about the country where the past, present and future had connected together in a paradoxial way.

(Country: Russia, Ukraine, Poland; Year: 2015; Director: Aleksey German; Writer: Aleksey German; Stars: Lui Frank, Merab Ninidze, Viktoria Korotkova, Chulpan Khamatova, Piotr Gasowski)

World premiere.

Victoria (My Name Is Victoria)

Review preview for Victoria

Perhaps because of the improvisation - although surely they must have rehearsed like crazy - even when the plot threatens to become contrived, the characters remain true to themselves.

Amber Wilkinson · 4 out of 5
Adventures of a woman after she meets a group of young lads, over the course of a night.

(Country: Germany; Year: 2015; Director: Sebastian Schipper; Writer: Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Sebastian Schipper; Stars: Frederick Lau, Franz Rogowski, Laia Costa, Max Mauff, Burak Yigit, Nadja Laura Mijthab)

Full review

World premiere.