From the "On The Scene" Archives:

Bound for Berlin; 14+ Films To Track at Europe's Launch Pad

by Anthony Kaufman

The official poster of the 2003 Berlinale Courtesy of Berlin International Film Festival

With Park City now past us, all eyes turn to the Berlin International Film Festival, the next major film showcase on the cinema calendar (neatly sandwiched between Rotterdam and the American Film Market) and duly concluding just before the war in Iraq begins. Opening this Thursday (February 6) with Rob Marshall's "Chicago," the German film bonanza unveils its usual mix of arthouse cinema with Hollywood worship (a high Clooney factor is repped in both "Solaris" and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" in this year's competition).

The first of the mega-international-film-festival triumvirate (followed by Cannes and Toronto -- or if you prefer Venice), the Berlinale's 53rd edition marks the launching point for a number of high-profile foreign films. Rooting through the hundreds of movies in the festival proper -- and the concurrent European Film Market -- is daunting, but a number of past festival favorites and recognized auteurs should rise above the pack, inciting buzz in critics, buyers, and festival programmers. Here's a preview of the hit list.

1. Patrice Chéreau, winner of Berlin 2001's Golden Bear for his English-language "Intimacy," returns with the world premiere of "Son Frère," one of three French entries in the competition section. Billed as the story of two estranged brothers who reunite after one becomes incurably ill, the movie stars Bruno Todeschini ("Va Savoir") and Cesar winner Eric Caravaca ("Officer's Ward"). After an auspicious cinematic run from "Queen Margot" to "Those Who Love Me Can Take the Train," to the emotionally gut-wrenching "Intimacy," Chereau's latest will make for essential viewing at the Berlinale.

2-3. The other none-too-shabby French competitors include elder statesman Claude Chabrol's "The Flower of Evil," a portrait of an upper middle-class family whose long concealed guilt catches up with them, starring French notables Nathalie Baye and Benoit Magimel; and actor-writer-director Pascal Bonitzer's black comedy "Petites Coupures," another star-studded affair with Daniel Auteuil, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Ludivine Sagnier about a notorious lady-killer.

4. Another winner from Berlin 2001, Lone Scherfig caused a stir with her Miramax-acquired Dogme 95 debut "Italian for Beginners." Her latest, "Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself," screening out of competition, is already in release in Denmark, garnering rave reviews ("Displaying the same quirky charm and bone dry humour of her international breakthrough, 'Wilbur' allies these qualities to a deeply felt exploration of the fragility of life and the complexities of human relationships." -- Screen International) The English-language Scottish-set comic drama is still without a U.S. distributor -- but not for long.

5. From Spanish celeb Pedro Almodovar's production company El Deseo comes "My Life Without Me," director Isabel Coixet's second English-language effort, following "Things I Never Told You," a Berlin Panorama selection in '96 that starred Lili Taylor and Andrew McCarthy. Based on Nanci Kincaid's short story collection "Pretending The Bed Is A Raft," the film stars Sarah Polley as a young mother who discovers meaning in her life after being diagnosed with a terminal disease. Focus International will be busy selling international territories.

6. Focus is also handling rights to "Zho Zhu's Train," an out-of-competition entry starring Chinese starlet Gong Li and directed by Sun Zhou, the team behind Berlin 2000 competitor "Breaking The Silence." Gong stars as a woman caught in an amorous love triangle.

7. Aussie auteur Rolf De Heer presents the world premiere of his latest "Alexandra's Project" in the competition. Rumored to be as controversial as his early 1993 satire "Bad Boy Bubby," the film has been described as a claustrophobic thriller about married couples. Heer is known for challenging cinema: Recent critically lauded films "The Tracker" (which beat out "Rabbit-Proof Fence" for the Australian Critics Circle's best film award) and his acclaimed Cannes '98 entry "Dance Me to My Song," remain without U.S. distribution, but as one of the few English-language narrative dramas available for acquisition at the Berlinale, "Alexandra's Project" is among the films tapped to catch.

8-11. After a day of hardcore art viewing, Hong Kong genre films offer a respite. The Berlinale's Forum section, dedicated to "innovative and experimental cinema," will include such diversions as "Infernal Affairs," a character-driven cop suspens film that Variety heralded as "the most powerful movie from the territory in a long while," Johnnie To's latest action flick "PTU" (Police Tactical Unit), and Jeff Lau's "Chinese Odyssey," a wacky chop-sockey adventure about two siblings (Faye Wong and Tony Leung) destined for each other set in the Ming Dynasty. And in the Panorama section, Peter Chan's "Going Home" -- one of a trio of ghost stories shown at Vancouver 2002 under the title "Three" -- was shot by "In the Mood for Love" cinematographer Christopher Doyle and has already received high praise elsewhere ("a coolly thought-through study of an obsessive marriage" -- Variety). Even Jackie Chan will on hand to reveal the new documentary "Traces of the Dragon: Jackie Chan and His Lost Family."

12-13. If Hong Kong thrillers haven't satiated genre tastes, Hideo Nakata, the Japanese horror-maestro responsible for "The Ring" and "Dark Water," premieres his latest "Last Scene" in the Panorama, another bone-chiller that the festival describes as "a caustic-romantic reflection on the development of the media into the worlds of film and television." Huh? Another Japanese master, Yoji Yamada -- director of some 60 films -- will screen "The Twilight Samurai" in competition, a 19th century samurai tale that recently swept Japan's Kinema Junpo critic's poll, winning several awards, including best film of the year.

14+. And let's not forget the home of the festival: the German film industry. They get no respect from Cannes, little distribution internationally, and make big budget Western spoofs, but at the Berlinale, it's time to take Deutchland's cinema seriously again. This year's competition features three German world premieres: Wolfgang Becker's "Goodbye, Lenin!" a black comedy about a young man who must explain to his Communist mother who wakes from a coma after the fall of the Berlin Wall that distinctions between East and West no longer exist (produced by Tom Tykwer's X-Filme Creative Pool); Oskar Roehler's "Der alte Affe Angst" (Angst), another rigorous story of angst-ridden relationships from the director of the somber Rotterdam 2002 critics winner "No Place To Go," and Hans-Christian Schmid's "Distant Lights," which interweaves five tales set along the German-Polish border from the talented young director of "23" and producers Jakob Claussen and Thomas Woebke (Oscar nominee "Beyond Silence").

But I put my money on upcoming filmmaker Christian Petzold's Panorama entry "Wolfsburg." After his two politically minded, emotionally attuned efforts, "The State I Am In" and "Something to Remind Me," Petzold returns with the story of a man who commits a hit-and-run and then becomes involved with the mother of the child that he struck. It's this kind of personal harrowing journey through loss, sorrow, and guilt that may resonate with Berlin audiences more than ever as the scent of war looms.