Berlin International Film Festival

Berlinale 2012 Review: Kirsten Sheridan's 'Dollhouse' Is A Dynamic, Delirious But Ultimately Downbeat Social Allegory

As we all are with films set in cities we know well, this writer is particularly critical of films set, partially or wholly, in Dublin. So it's no mean praise when we state that Kirsten Sheridan's third feature, "Dollhouse," by turns riotous and menacing, is as accurate a portrait of the interaction...

Berlinale 2012 Review: 'Anton Corbijn Inside Out' Presents An Impressionist Portrait Of The Artist As A Solitary Man

Wisely not attempting to go the standard-issue bio doc route with a subject who is clearly anything but standard-issue "Anton Corbijn Inside Out," as the title suggests, instead takes a more impressionistic, intimate approach to the celebrated photographer and filmmaker, and in the process creates a...

Berlinale 2012 Review - Teddy Award Winner For Best Documentary "Call Me Kuchu" + Trailer

Brillante Mendoza Discusses Working With Isabelle Huppert On 'Captive' & His Smaller-Scale, Manila-Set Next Project

Brillante Mendoza has a killer work ethic: the Filipino director made nine films between 2005's "Masahista" and 2009's "Lola," the latter of which, along with Cannes in-competition entry "Kinatay" the same year, really launched him into the major leagues of international helmers. He's taken an uncha...

Berlinale 2012 Review: Melissa Leo Shines In Minutely Observed, Minimalist 'Francine'

Evoking films like "Winter's Bone" and "Wendy and Lucy" in presenting a sparse, narrowly focused portrait of a lone female protagonist in adverse, not to say desperate circumstances, "Francine" is the kind of small film made for the festival circuit, and for which t...

Berlinale 2012 Reviews - "Indignados" And "Espoir Voyage" (Shadows In Flux)

S&A isn't attending the Berlin International Film Festival this year (although I'm planning on it for 2013), but thankfully an S&A reader, Denise VanDeCruze (The Mic Movement - Amplifying Art In Berlin & Beyond) is there, and offered to write up some reviews for me...

Berlinale 2012 Review: 'Bel Ami' Starring Robert Pattinson Fails To Seduce

From behind, we watch a man in ragged clothes look longingly through the window of a fancy Belle Epoque Parisian restaurant. Inside, richly attired women whisper secrets over brimful glasses of champagne and decadent platters laden with food. Later, the hungry man in his mean garret relives the mome...

Guy Maddin On The "Sweet Sadness" Of 'Keyhole' & His Love For 'Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol'

You could forgive Guy Maddin for feeling a little put out at the moment. The Canadian filmmaker has, for nearly 25 years, been faithfully paying homage to the early days of cinema with films like "Archangel," "Twilight of the Ice Nymphs" and "The Saddest Music In The World&q...

Berlinale 2012 Review: 'A Royal Affair' Is A Good-Looking But Unadventurous Period Drama Elevated By Fine Performances

Considering how very few people on earth we would rather watch on a movie screen than Mads Mikkelsen, colour us baffled to find ourselves slightly out of step with the rapturous reception accorded his latest film, the Danish-language period drama "A Royal Affair." Premiering tonight in Berlin, the f...