reviews

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

“La Cocina” looks at illegal immigrants through a kitchen lens

Rooney Mara as Julia and Raúl Briones as Pedro in "La Cocina" Once in a while a film comes along that is so audacious and outrageous it takes your breath away. One such was the 2014 Argentine film “Wild Tales”, a series of vignettes in one of which two male drivers fight to their deaths…Read more “La Cocina” looks at illegal immigrants through a kitchen lens

Dumont’s “L’Empire” sci-fi satire fails on liftoff at Berlinale

Anamaria Vartolomei as Jane in Bruno Dumont's Berlinale competitor "L'Empire" The highly anticipated space sci-fi offering “L'Empire” from Bruno Dumont, one of the leading lights of French intellectual cinema, failed to achieve warp speed at the Berlinale, where it had its premiere on Sunday and is in contention for the festival's main Golden Bear prize.…Read more Dumont’s “L’Empire” sci-fi satire fails on liftoff at Berlinale