Berlinale

Norwegian film “Drømmer” wins Golden Bear top prize at Berlinale

Drømmer producers Yngve Sæther, Hege Hauff Hvattum with director Dag Johan Haugerud (centre) The Norwegian film "Drømmer" (Dreams (Sex Love)), directed by Dag Johan Haugerud and starring Ella Øverbye as a 17-year-old schoolgirl who turns the tables on the adults in her world by writing a book about a lesbian affair with her teacher, won…Read more Norwegian film “Drømmer” wins Golden Bear top prize at Berlinale

Do-gooder can’t stop progress, or death, in Jude’s “Kontinental ’25” at Berlinale

A homeless man, dressed in tattered clothes and shouting out swear words at random, packs trash into a carryall as he lurches along the leaf-strewn paths of a forlorn amusement park, whose chief attraction is clunky, animatronic dinosaurs. When he leaves the park and walks into the city of Cluj, in northwestern Romania, he passes…Read more Do-gooder can’t stop progress, or death, in Jude’s “Kontinental ’25” at Berlinale

Dark rock-star celebrity worship film “Lurker” channels “Ripley”

Archie Madekwe and Théodore Pellerin in Alex Russell's "LurkerThe celebrity-worship culture of the Los Angeles rock scene runs up against the desperation of an insinuating outsider who will do anything to gain admission to a star's inner circle in “Lurker”, a dark but sometimes comic Sundance hit that had its international premiere at the Berlinale…Read more Dark rock-star celebrity worship film “Lurker” channels “Ripley”

Teens turn tables on adults in Berlinale competition films

Marielle (Laeni Geiseler) can overhear her parents in "What Marielle Knows" Two teenaged schoolgirls turn family dynamics on their head, one of them by developing telepathy that allows her to read her parents' minds, wherever they are, the other by writing a book about a lesbian affair she's had with her French teacher, in two…Read more Teens turn tables on adults in Berlinale competition films

Cinderella story with a meat cleaver, mother-and-baby issues from hell on Berlinale screens

Marie Leuenberger as new mother who is convinced her infant is not her own in "Mother's Baby" In “The Ugly Stepsister”, an uproarious Norwegian twist on the Cinderella fairytale screening at the Berlinale, Elvira (Norwegian actress Lea Myren) wants to win the prince but also loves eating cake. Her money-obsessed mother (Polish actress Agnieszka Zulewska)…Read more Cinderella story with a meat cleaver, mother-and-baby issues from hell on Berlinale screens

Lorenz Hart bio-pic “Blue Moon” captures falling star of a great American lyricist

American actor Ethan Hawke gives a powerful but disturbing performance as the alcoholic lyricist Lorenz Hart in director Richard Linklater's Berlinale competition entry “Blue Moon”, named for one of Hart's songs with his longtime collaborator Richard Rodgers, played by Irish actor Andrew Scott. Alternately witty, solicitous, hectoring and maddening in his barroom banter, Hawke chews…Read more Lorenz Hart bio-pic “Blue Moon” captures falling star of a great American lyricist

Lanzmann’s epic Holocaust documentary “Shoah” — now more than ever

Claude Lanzmann driving a car at the entrance to the Polish village of Treblinka in July, 1978 during the filming of his documentary "Shoah"French director Claude Lanzmann's Holocaust documentary “Shoah”, first released 40 years ago, had a one-time screening in its 9 1/2-hour entirety at the Berlinale film festival this week that underscored why, as…Read more Lanzmann’s epic Holocaust documentary “Shoah” — now more than ever

Pattinson works double time in sci-fi satire “Mickey 17” at Berlinale

It's not often that a science fiction film comes along that deals with serious themes like dictatorship, human rights and extermination of indigenous populations and also manages to be laugh aloud funny. Such a film is “Mickey 17”, which had its world premiere, out of competition, at the Berlinale film festival on Saturday. It stars…Read more Pattinson works double time in sci-fi satire “Mickey 17” at Berlinale

“Das Licht” opens 75th Berlinale with an immigrant puzzler — and tale of the supernatural

With immigrants as a central theme, plus a nod to Jordan Peele's “Get Out”and musical numbers staged on Berlin streets that could come from an ABBA film, German director Tom Tykwer's “Das Licht” (The Light) opened the 75th Berlinale film festival on Thursday with an enigma. Which side of the intensely controversial issue of wholesale…Read more “Das Licht” opens 75th Berlinale with an immigrant puzzler — and tale of the supernatural