According to the program notes, Berlin’s Panorama section is meant to present “an overview of trends in art-house world cinema.” That’s shorthand for “this is where we put stuff we like, but which is unlikely to attract the attention of a Competition film.” The films found in the Main and Special programs highlight international and independent productions in need of wider distribution. This year’s batch includes India’s first legally gay film, a Brazilian action film and Kevin Spacey moving in with his daughter. Read to the end, because there’s a trick in this line-up’s tail. Click on the titles to see trailers.
Read the first part of our Berlin Competition preview.
Read the second part of our Berlin Competition preview.
Arekti Premer Golpo (Just Another Love Story)
A gay director and his bisexual cameraman learn that it’s hard to make a documentary in Calcutta. Star Rituparno Ghosh is better known as a director, having won the National Film Award for Unishe April. According to director Kaushik Ganguly, this is the first gay picture to be shot in India after the decriminalization of homosexuality.
A straight fitness trainer named Kafka and a gay businessman have a fraught affair. This is the second film in a stylish autobiographical trilogy by Hong Kong IT-whiz-turned-filmmaker Scud (Permanent Residence), which also starred model Byron Pang.
Barrier (Boundaries)
An ambitious actor is on the verge of realizing a dream—playing the Dane. However, his colleagues in this production of Hamlet are also vying for roles. He learns the hard way that one can smile and smile and be a villain. German director Andreas Kleinert’s latest film stars Volkram Zschiesche as the thesp.
The legendary Besouro Manganga’s tale is told in suitably bone-crunching style as the capoeira ace invokes both physical skill and a bit of magic to fight some vicious slave-owners. Leave your brain cells at the door and you should be fine. This Brazilian Roadhouse was directed by João Daniel Tikhomiroff.
Blutsfreundschaft (Initiation)
An 80-year-old dry cleaner falls for a teenage Neo-Nazi. The already creepy relationship is rendered even stranger by flashback that reveals the old geezer has a tragic fascist past of his own. Star Helmut Berger is legendary for all the wrong reasons, but he stars in this new button-pusher from his fellow New German Cinema refugee Peter Kern.
Bróder! (Broder!)
There’s unfinished business between three reunited friends from Sao Paolo’s rough district of Capão Redondo, which comes to a head when one kidnaps the other. Jeferson De’s thriller stars Brazilian actor Caio Blat (Lavoura Arcaica (To the left of the father)).
Due Vite per caso (One Life Maybe Two)
Matteo Carli walks away from a car crash with the police, but the young man’s anger at the incident won’t go away. What happens next was inspired by events at the 2001 G8 Summit. Alessandro Aronadio’s film about a freshly radicalized youth stars Lorenzo Balducci.
An uncompassionate doctor’s life spins out of control after he’s shot by a patient’s husband. Oskar Santos’ debut film was written by Goya-award-winning director Daniel Sanchez Arevalo and produced by Alejandro Amenabar (The Others). Eduardo Gomez (Abre los ojos) stars.
A Turkish woman flees her abusive marriage. Her family in Berlin doesn’t welcome her with open arms. Soon Umay is on the run again. Feo Aladag’s tense drama features another stand-out performance from Sibel Kekilli, star of Fatih Akin’s Head-On.
Father of Invention
It all went wrong for inventor Robert Axle when his gizmo started maiming the customers. On his release from prison, he seeks rehabilitation by moving in with his 22-year-old daughter. Kevin Spacey and Camilla Belle star in the new comedy from Trent Cooper (Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector). Yep, you read that credit right.
Tags: Abre los ojos, Alejandro Amenabar, Alessandro Aronadio, Amphetamine, Andreas Kleinert, Arekti Premer Golpo, Barrier, Berlin Film Festival, Besouro, Besouro Manganga, Blutsfreundschaft, Boundaries, Bróder!, Brother!, Byron Pang, Caio Blat, Camilla Belle, Daniel Sanchez Arevalo, Die Fremde, Due Vite per caso, Eduardo Gomez, El Mal ajeno, Father of Invention, Fatih Akin, Feo Aladag, Hamlet, Head-On, Helmut Berger, Initiation, Jeferson De, João Daniel Tikhomiroff, Just Another Love Story, Kaushik Ganguly, Kevin Spacey, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, Lavoura Arcaica, Lorenzo Balducci, One Life Maybe Two, Oskar Santos, Permanent Residence, Peter Kern, Rituparno Ghosh, Roadhouse, Scud, Sibel Kekilli, The Others, To the left of the father, Trent Cooper, Unishe April, Volkram Zschiesche, When We Leave
SquallyShowers 
February 6, 2010 at 11:36 pm |
[…] Read the first part of our Berlin Panorama preview. Read the second part of our Berlin Panorama preview. Read the first part of our Berlin Competition preview. Read the second part of our Berlin Competition preview. […]