May 18, 2012
Review - Archipelago

Describing Archipelago as dreary would be a gross understatement. The plot (in the most liberal definition of the term) revolves around a middle class family renting a cottage on one of the Isles of Scilly for a holiday. The father isn’t there and the only other people on the island with the mother and two adult children are their hired cook and a paint instructor who also doubles as the most jejune, uncharismatic philosopher ever given a platform.

Deep-rooted and unresolved conflicts are suggested but left unexplored and instead the viewer is treated to two hours of small talk and would-be evocative but in effect exasperatingly dull scenes, such as the interminable five minutes the family spends deciding which table to occupy in an empty restaurant.

With its sparse dialogue, impassive characters and isolated island setting, the film is evidently striving for an expression of existential angst in the vein of Antonioni or Bergman. The characters, however, are a blend of constipated and emasculated, failing to induce even the slightest sympathy or interest, and the film’s incredibly drab colour palette saps all beauty from the potentially stunning panoramic shots. Even the production design is bland to the point of caricature.

With the camera always immobile and the interior shots endlessly depicting characters walking through the house or reading in bed, the film increasingly feels like watching CCTV outtakes from the most uneventful Big Brother series imaginable.

Archipelago | Directed by Joanna Hogg (UK 2010) with Tom Hiddleston, Christopher Baker, Kate Fahy. Opens May 24

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Originally published in the May 2012 issue of Exberliner

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Filed under: reviews 
May 14, 2012
Review - Kill Me Please

An upscale euthanasia clinic gives terminally ill patients the opportunity of dying in a scenario of their choosing. Although it’s a premise rich with potential for the brand of delightfully macabre comedy that has become synonymous with Belgian film abroad, despite some inspired scenes at the start, excellent performances and an appealing monochrome aesthetic, Kill Me Please fails to live up to its peers. The film quickly sinks into ever-deeper inanity (the bad kind), losing all momentum and culminating in a climax so stupid, it denies itself all comic or critical pay-off.

Kill Me Please | Directed by Olias Barco (Belgium/France 2010) with Aurélien Recoing, Benoît Poelvoorde, Saul Rubinek. Opens May 17

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Originally published in the May 2012 issue of Exberliner



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Filed under: reviews 
May 13, 2012
Review - Marley

Perceiving waning interest in Bob Marley’s music of recent, Kevin Macdonald has put together a loving and exhaustive document of the Jamaican legend’s life and work.

Through archival footage and an impressive collection of interviews both new and old, the film follows Marley’s life chronologically, starting in his birthplace in the hills of Jamaica’s northern countryside and ending in the snow-covered Bavarian village where he spent his last months seeking treatment for melanoma at the age of 36.

While everyone is familiar with Marley’s most famous hits and general fame, it is unlikely that most will be aware of just the status and level of influence he enjoyed during his lifetime, which this film makes abundantly clear. Although it’s certainly not the least biased of documentaries – Marley is all but sanctified and potentially contentious issues such as his neglect of his children, adultery or volatile character are glossed over – Marley nonetheless provides a fascinating and inspiring portrait that manages to remain captivating despite a rather audacious 144-minute running time.

The film’s true highlight, however, is its soundtrack. Playing virtually without cease and covering an extensive catalogue from the megahits to the obscure, Marley’s songs are used to great effect to comment on many of the events chronicled and to convey the life-spirit that fuelled their genesis.

Marley | Directed by Kevin Macdonald (USA/UK 2012) Documentary. Opens May 17

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Originally published in the May 2012 issue of Exberliner

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Filed under: reviews 
May 7, 2012
Michael Glawogger: Travelling and Realism

Cine-Fils is a Berlin-based web magazine that regularly publishes exclusive video interviews with eminent film figures, featuring impressive names such as Michael Haneke, Mike Leigh and Isabella Rossellini. Each interview revolves around a specific theme related to the interviewee’s style and career – in the above cases, ‘Violence’, ‘Theatre’ and ‘Sex’ respectively – and is accompanied by an academic essay providing an exploration of the theme with regards to his or her oeuvre.

The latest edition features Michael Glawogger, the Austrian director perhaps best known for his trilogy of documentaries on globalization: Megacities (1998), Workingman’s Death (2005), and Whores’ Glory (2011). These documentaries depict life in various corners of the globe, focusing on some of the most impoverished and extreme living conditions Glawogger encountered during his frequent travels. Adhering to what has become an Austrian trademark in both literature (Thomas Bernhard, Elfriede Jelinek) and film (Michael Haneke, Ulrich Seidl), Glawogger’s work provides an assault on bourgeois complacency. Without voice-over commentary or virtually any contextualisation, his films bombard us with images from across the world, free-associating around his loose theme globalization by focusing on its consequences for individuals worldwide. Imbuing abjection with mesmerizing beauty and disallowing disassociation, his films eschew didacticism but nevertheless involve the viewer on an immediate, visceral level, providing an experience as enlightening as it is violently sobering. 

‘Travelling’ was the theme of Michael Glawogger’s interview with Cine-Fils and I wrote the accompanying essay, examining the crucial role realism plays in the aforementioned trilogy, which despite blurring the distinction between fact and fiction, sometimes even slipping into surreal territory, derives its strength from a resolute and unflinching commitment to realism as understood by the likes of André Bazin and Serge Daney. 

Both the interview and essay can be found here.

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May 2, 2012
Review - Bar25, Tage außerhalb der Zeit

What was it that for seven years made Bar25 the signifier of Berlin’s famed club scene, regarded as a Mecca by Berliners and tourists alike until a protracted struggle with Mediaspree eventually closed its doors for good in 2010? Unfortunately, despite the interviewees’ relentless (too often self-)adulation  – one goes so far as claiming that they were “riding at the vanguard of evolution” – the documentary’s flat images and surprisingly spiritless soundtrack fail to capture the magic of the Spreeside techno wonderland, disappointing both as a testament and as a fount of nostalgia.

Bar25 - Tage außerhalb der Zeit | Directed by Britta Mischer and Nana Yuriko (Germany 2012) Documentary. Opens May 3

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Originally published in the May 2012 issue of Exberliner

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Filed under: reviews 
May 1, 2012
Young Olympians: New Greek Cinema at the Arsenal

The success of Yorgos Lanthimos’ exceptional Kynodontas (Dogtooth, pictured above), which won the Prix Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2009, went on to be a worldwide indie hit and even garnered an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film, signalled the start of a new wave of films from young Greek filmmakers that count as some of the most refreshingly original works to come out of the European arthouse in recent years.

Always markedly postmodern, these films focus on the transformation and dissolution of mores and institutions within contemporary Greek society, often creating offbeat microcosms to explore the individual’s relation to these shifts and providing commentaries that blend cynicism with whimsicality without sacrificing their bite.

Starting with a preview screening of Lanthimos’ latest film Alpeis (Alps, released in Germany on the 14th of June), which tells of an agency providing surrogate loved ones to the recently bereaved, throughout May the Arsenal is hosting an impressive series of 13 recent Greek films, most of which are all but impossible to get a hold of in Germany. Kynodontas producer Athina Tsangarai will be present for the German premiere of her own Attenberg, another cult favourite. Other highlights include L (pictured above), which takes the deadpan absurdism of the above titles to a whole new level in its story of a man who lives in his car and whose raison d’être consists of each day delivering a single jar of honey to his employer.

Neues Griechisches Kino (04.05 - 30.05.2012) | Arsenal, Potsdamer Str. 2, S+U-Bhf Potsdamer Platz

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Alpeis - May 4, 20:00, and May 7, 20:00. In Greek with English subs, with director Yorgos Lanthimos in attendance

Kynodontas - May 5, 19:00, and May 19, 21:00. In Greek with English subs, with director Yorgos Lanthimos in attendance

Attenberg - May 10, 20:00. In Greek with German subs, with director Athina Tsangarai in attendance

L - May 12, 21:00, and May 18, 19:30. In Greek with English subs

Full programme here.

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Originally published in the May 2012 issue of Exberliner

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Filed under: Series and retrospectives 
March 5, 2012
Happy Birthday Pier Paolo Pasolini!

Today would have been Pier Paolo Pasolini’s 90th birthday. One of Italy’s most interesting artists, his work – be it as a filmmaker, poet, novelist, playwright, or journalist – always provided passionate, stimulating and, more often than not, inflammatory commentary on the state of Italian culture and politics. Outside of Italy, he is probably best known for his films and he is widely considered one of the most significant European auteurs of the 1960s and 70s, with contemporary directors as diverse as Michael Haneke, Nanni Moretti, Peter Greenaway and Catherine Breillat citing him as a major influence.

My favourite Pasolini films are probably Teorema (1968), Porcile (1969) and Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975). These films form an unofficial trilogy and provide Pasolini’s scathing critique of the bourgeoisie of his time and of what he labelled as the rise of ‘New Fascism’ in the postwar era. Salò is the best known of the three; however, this is mainly due to its infamous scenes of rape, torture and coprophagia, and it is unlikely that those that watch it out of context for those reasons alone are able to draw much from the film. By watching them in succession, a clear evolution becomes apparent as both the thematic negativity and the aesthetic mannerism, which are more moderate in Teorema, become total in Salò, thus rendering the escalation of Pasolini’s personal despair palpable and contextualising the atrocities depicted in Salò beyond mere provocation. Like most of Pasolini’s work, these films are neither easy to watch nor to interpret and no account attempting to offer a definite explanation is ever fully satisfactory. Pasolini regarded this ‘New Fascism’ as representing a novel and unprecedented form of power, whose totalizing influence eluded rationality and that no rational discourse could hope to either define or oppose. He therefore crafted a cinematic form of poetry intent on inspiring contemplation rather than providing answers and it is this aspect that makes the trilogy endlessly fascinating, encouraging repeated viewings and virtually limitless deliberation.


Unfortunately, no retrospectives are taking place in Berlin to coincide with his birthday. Still, the Schwules Museum Berlin has set up an exhibition of materials pertaining to Pasolini’s literary and cinematic oeuvre, inviting consideration of one of the many paradoxes that defined his life: his homosexuality and his art’s position towards it. The exhibition is already open and will run until the 1st of May.  Also, the Istituto Italiano di Cultura is organizing two events: a discussion between journalist Paolo Lepri and literature critic Filippo La Porta regarding Pasolini’s lasting intellectual legacy (19th March, 19:00, in Italian with live German translation) and a ‘musical-literary’ evening, exploring Pasolini’s artistic legacy through readings of his songs, fiction and poetry (20th March, 19:30, in Italian and German).

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Filed under: events 
February 25, 2012
Review - Shame

Shame focuses on Brandon, a deeply tormented nymphomaniac hiding behind a façade of affluence and success. Like any addict, he is trapped in a relentless and futile quest for unattainable gratification, his life reduced to a torturous continuity of one-night stands, prostitutes, pornography, and clandestine masturbation in the office toilets.

The abandon with which Fassbender gives himself to such a demanding role is admirable, delivering a sensational performance that McQueen takes full advantage of and not since Bergman has the close-up been used to convey such depths of emotion.

Artistically, Shame is a triumph. As in McQueen’s debut Hunger, each shot is impeccably composed, generating an intense dialectical dynamic between the beauty of its images and the staggering violence they portray. The cinematography and production design further serve to accentuate the emotional void Brandon finds himself in by rendering a purgatorial Manhattan of sterile rooms and anonymous streets and subways.

Sadly, in its attempt to contextualize Brandon’s plight, the film loses some of its strength. At first, Brandon’s nymphomania seems to be the expression of a social malaise along the lines of American Psycho, albeit without the farcicality. Hints are later dropped that it could actually be the consequence of (presumably sexual) trauma suffered by Brandon and his sister Sissy (Mulligan) in childhood; hints so subtle, however, that an ill-timed sneeze could cause you to miss them. Including such weighty (and here contradictory) propositions without elaborating on them is regrettable as it unnecessarily confuses what would otherwise have been an outright masterpiece.

Shame | Directed by Steve McQueen (UK 2011) with Michael Fassbender, Carey Mulligan, James Badge Dale, Nicole Beharie. Opens February 23

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Originally published in the March 2012 issue of Exberliner

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(Notes: 1)
  
Filed under: reviews 
February 21, 2012
‘Al Juma Al Akheira’ - Interview with Yahya Alabdallah

Al Juma Al Akheira (The Last Friday) has been one of the highlights of this year’s Berlinale Forum section. An understated gem of a film, it follows the story of Yousef, a taxi driver in the Jordanian capital Amman, who after losing everything to his poker addiction has to live a life of isolation and contempt, watching impotently as his son follows in his footsteps (read my full-length review here).

Writer-director Yahya Alabdallah’s impressive feature debut already won him a number of awards when it premiered in Dubai in December and has received widespread critical acclaim. I met with him during the Berlinale and held this short interview.

Do you feel your experience studying in Paris added a Western flavour to Al Juma Al Akheira?

Actually, my three-year experience in France, it added something. When you watch the film, it doesn’t have a nationality. The way I shoot is almost silent, so that will give it more aspects to be internationally understandable. I do think my experience had an impact on that.

How did you come up with the story?

The scene where the guy comes and steals the parking tickets, that actually happened to me. I was downtown and I saw that I had a ticket, so I said, ‘OK, let’s have a sandwich, since it’s already there.’ Then someone came, parked behind me, looked around, took my ticket and put it on his car. Because the policeman will see who has a ticket already and will give another one. So I departed from reality with that scene and then took the drama line with the taxi driver.

Ali Suliman’s performance as Yousef, the taxi driver, is truly impressive.

Working with Ali was one of the really good experiences in making Al Juma Al Akheira. He watched a short film I made called ‘SMS’ at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2008. It’s a silent film and he liked the style and he asked me to send him my script. We talked for four months about the character and how to develop it.

The film works both as a personal portrait and a political allegory. How would you describe this interaction?

The political aspect provided the background, because the main reason I made this film was to talk about social issues. These are the first problems, which then lead the people to revolution, so I wanted to concentrate on them.

So Yousef’s story reflects damaged social relations?

The fair situation for any citizen is to have a majority that’s from the middle class. And when you lose that, the moral system for the people who live together will be damaged: you will have two parts, and that’s not a healthy situation to live in. So the taxi driver is one of those that were in the middle class and then lost everything and became lower class, and the film examines how that will change his relationships with others, including his son.

The women in the film, unlike the men, are strong characters. Is this also a reflection of social realities or of personal ideology?

Actually, I don’t know. I think women are strong human beings, so I guess this idea is reflected in my film. There are a lot of films that talk about women as victims, so I wanted to talk about that from another angle.

The character of the son seems to be following in his father’s footsteps – are you negative about the possibility of change?   

No, I’m positive, but it takes time. The character sees his son going in his direction and he wants to stop that, but he can’t, because the answer is not in his hands. That’s what I meant by saying the background is political, but the film itself is social. Those kinds of people, they don’t want to bring about the same situations for the next generation, and maybe the next generation will start changing things.

What makes the difference?

Knowing that there is a problem, that’s the start.

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Originally published in Exberliner as part of my coverage of the Berlinale 2012

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Filed under: Interviews 
February 14, 2012
Berlinale Review: Rentaneko (Rent-a-Cat)

Rentaneko in one word: adorable. Considering the Internet’s overflow of cute kitten pictures, this film was just waiting to be made. With its absurd and idiosyncratically Japanese premise and humour, it’s basically Tampopo (1985) with countless cuddly cats in place of the mountains of mouth-watering food. 

Sayoko (Ichikawa) lives alone with an army of cats. The kitties are naturally attracted to her as if via pheromones and everyday she takes them around in a cart, renting them out to lonely people. The film has a cyclical structure, with Sayoko meeting a client, renting a cat, for some reason lying about having a lucrative, always oddball job on the side – ranging from fortune teller to TV jingle composer – curing the client’s loneliness, and then finding herself at home lamenting her lack of a husband.

The story is pretty thin and largely irrelevant. This is of no importance, for Sayoko is as adorable as her many cats and Rentaneko’s bizarre humour is absolutely irresistible. The whole film is basically a succession of hilarious scenes that includes some lighthearted philosophy on the side. It could have been a bit shorter, as it stretches its premise out a bit by nearing the two-hour mark, but that’s really just nitpicking – it’s completely enjoyable and anyone with an affinity for Japanese absurdity will have a thoroughly good time.

Rentaneko (E: Rent-a-Cat) | Directed by Naoko Ogigami (Japan 2012) with Mikako Ichikawa, Reiko Kusamura, Ken Mitsuishi, Maho Yamada, Kei Tanaka

World premiere in the Panorama section of the Berlinale 2012 at the CinemaxX 7 on Tuesday, February 14th, at 19:00.

Further screening times and venues:
-    Wed, Feb 15, 22:45, CineStar 3
-    Thu, Feb 16, 22:30, Cubix 8
-    Thu, Feb 16, 22:30, Cubix 7
-    Sun, Feb 19, 20:15, CineStar 3

All screenings in Japanese with English subtitles.

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Filed under: Berlinale 2012 Panorama 2012 
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