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Berlin International Film Festival · 2023

Berlin International Film Festival 2023

Retrospectives

Programme

15 films · 6 reviews

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The Beauty (Gražuolė)

A girl leads a carefree life in a slightly crumbling old apartment block but her idyll is broken when a sullen-looking and spiteful boy moves to the neighbourhood and refuses to her, undermining her confidence.

(Country: Lithuanian; Year: 1969; Director: Arūnas Žebriūnas; Writer: Arūnas Žebriūnas; Stars: Inga Mickyte, Lilija Zadeikyte, Arvidas Samukas)

Before The Revolution

A young man struggles to reconcile his militant views with his bourgeoise lifestyle.

(Country: Italy; Year: 1964; Director: Bernardo Bertolucci; Writer: Bernardo Bertolucci, Gianni Amico; Stars: Adriana Asti, Francesco Barilli, Allen Midgette, Morando Morandini, Cristina Pariset, Cecrope Barilli, Evelina Alpi, Gianni Amico, Goliardo Padova, Guido Fanti, Enrico Salvatore, Amelia Bordi, Domenico Alpi, Iole Lunardi, Antonio Maghenzani)

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Review preview for Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a laugh-out-loud fest that makes you wonder how can kids be so intelligent and so stupid at the same time.

Gabriella Trybalska · 4.5 out of 5
A teen plots a day off school.

(Country: US; Year: 1986; Director: John Hughes; Writer: John Hughes; Stars: Matthew Broderick, Alan Ruck, Kristy Swanson, Mia Sara, Jeffrey Jones, Jennifer Grey, Charlie Sheen, Cindy Pickett, Lyman Ward)

Full review See: Article about the Brat Pack, John Hughes and teenagers in the movies.

Groundhog Day

A weatherman is condemned to live Groundhog Day over and over again until he gets it right.

(Country: US; Year: 1993; Director: Harold Ramis; Stars: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott)

The Last Picture Show

Review preview for The Last Picture Show

Bogdanovich allows the scenes to play out in near silence as the brilliance of the lighting, staging, and acting leave the viewer breathless and trembling.

Robert Munro · 5 out of 5
The coming-of-age struggle of three kids in small town Texas.

(Country: US; Year: 1971; Director: Peter Bogdanovich; Writer: Larry McMurtry, Peter Bogdanovich; Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Jeff Bridges, Cybill Shepherd, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Ellen Burstyn, Eileen Brennan, Clu Gulager, Sam Bottoms, Sharon Ullrick, Randy Quaid, Joe Heathcock, Bill Thurman, Barc Doyle, Jessie Lee Fulton)

Full review

Manila In The Claws Of Light (Maynila: Sa mga kuko ng liwanag, The Nail Of Brightness)

A country boy goes to the city in search of his lost love.

(Country: Philippines; Year: 1975; Director: Lino Brocka; Writer: Edgardo Reyes, Clodualdo Del Mundo Jr; Stars: Hilda Koronel, Bembol Roco, Lou Salvador Jr., Joonee Gamboa, Pio III De Castro, Danilo Posadas, Joe Jardy, Spanky Manikan, Edipolo Erosido, Pancho Pelagio, Purita Yap, Josephine Gutierrez, Gina Zegui, Ronnie Magalong, Anna Marie Nicolas)

Rebel Without A Cause

Review preview for Rebel Without A Cause

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

Chris · 4.5 out of 5
The film which invented the teenager and introduced the world to James Dean.

(Country: US; Year: 1955; Director: Nicholas Ray; Writer: Irving Shulman and Stewart Stern, based on a story by Nicholas Ray.; Stars: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo, Jim Backus, Ann Doran, Corey Allen, William Hopper, Rochelle Hudson, Dennis Hopper)

Full review

Rumble Fish

Review preview for Rumble Fish

This is not so much a study in stereotypes, courtesy of Jimmy Dean’s legacy, but a love poem to the restless, doomed, anarchic integrity of orphaned hearts.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 4.5 out of 5
The heroism of teenage violence against a background of iconic posturing.

(Country: US; Year: 1983; Director: Francis Ford Coppola; Writer: S E Hinton, Francis Ford Coppola, based on the novel by S E Hinton; Stars: Matt Dillon, Mickey Rourke, Diane Lane, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Spano, Chris Penn, Dennis Hopper, Laurence Fishburne, Diana Scarwid, Tom Waits, William Smith, Michael Higgins)

Full review

Sound And Fury (De bruit et de fureur)

Trouble brews for two disaffected teenagers.

(Country: France; Year: 1988; Director: Jean-Claude Brisseau; Writer: Jean-Claude Brisseau; Stars: Bruno Cremer, François Négret, Vincent Gasperitsch, Fabienne Babe, María Luisa García, Fejria Deliba, Thierry Helene, Sandrine Arnault, Victoire Buff, Françoise Vatel, Albert Montias, Lucien Plazanet, Antonio García, Antoine Fontaine, Luc Ponette)

The Spirit Of The Beehive (El espíritu de la colmena)

Review preview for The Spirit Of The Beehive

Although an undoubted classic of the period - and featuring one of cinema's best child performances in Torrent - the allusive and elusive style of the film is difficult to engage with.

Rebecca Naughten · 4 out of 5
A screening of James Whale's Frankenstein alters how an impressionable young girl sees her world in 1940s Spain.

(Country: Spain; Year: 1973; Director: Víctor Erice; Writer: Víctor Erice, Ángel Fernández Santos, Francisco J Querejeta; Stars: Fernando Fernán Gómez, Teresa Gimpera, Ana Torrent, Isabel Tellería, Ketty de la Cámara, Estanis González, José Villasante, Juan Margallo, Laly Soldevila, Miguel Picazo)

Full review

Sugar Cane Valley (Black Shack Alley)

Coming of age story about a youngster and his grandmother.

(Country: France, Martinique; Year: 1983; Director: Euzhan Palcy; Writer: Euzhan Palcy, Joseph Zobel; Stars: Garry Cadenat, Darling Légitimus, Douta Seck, Joby Bernabé, Francisco Charles, Marie-Jo Descas, Marie-Ange Farot, Henri Melon, Eugène Mona, Joël Palcy, Serge Abattucci, Samuel Abraham, Albert Adea, Jose Aloha, Dominique Arfi)

Touki Bouki

Mory, a cowherd, and Anta, a university student, try to make money in order to go to Paris and leave their boring past behind.

(Country: Senegal; Year: 1973; Director: Djibril Diop Mambéty; Writer: Djibril Diop Mambéty; Stars: Magaye Niang, Mareme Niang, Aminata Fall, Ousseynou Diop, Christoph Colomb, Ndou Labia, Mustapha Ture)

Typhoon Club (Taifu kurabu)

One of Somai's masterpieces. As a typhoon approaches their small Tokyo suburb, a group of high-school students confront issues of sexuality, mortality and their place in the world. A riveting work with a rich and beguiling atmosphere, showing the director's full dynamic range. Print courtesy of The National Film Center of The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

(Country: Japan; Year: 1985; Director: Shinji Somai)

Vagabond

After a woman's body is found in a ditch, we see her final weeks unfold.

(Country: France; Year: 1985; Director: Agnès Varda; Writer: Agnès Varda; Stars: Sandrine Bonnaire, Setti Ramdane, Francis Balchère, Jean-Louis Perletti, Urbain Causse, Christophe Alcazar, Dominique Durand, Joël Fosse, Patrick Schmit, Daniel Bos, Katy Champaud, Raymond Roulle, Henri Fridlani, Patrick Sokol, Pierre Imbert)

The Virgin Suicides

Review preview for The Virgin Suicides

Coppola demonstrates remarkable confidence.

Angus Wolfe Murray · 3.5 out of 5
The story of sisters and suicide in the American suburbs.

(Country: US; Year: 1999; Director: Sofia Coppola; Writer: Sofia Coppola, Jeffrey Eugenides; Stars: James Woods, Kathleen Turner, Kirsten Dunst, Josh Hartnett, Hanna Hall, Chelse Swain, A J Cook, Leslie Hayman, Danny DeVito, Michael Pare, Scott Glenn)

Full review