di Suzanne Teichman

2nd day>>

SHINE A LIGHT

di Martin Scorsese

Stati Uniti 2008, 122'

Dinosaurs of Rock in Berlin: The Rolling Stones and Martin Scorsese opening the 58th issue of the Berlin International Filmfestival with their world premiere of SHINE A LIGHT.

For the first time the International Filmfestival of Berlin screened a documentary at the opening night.
Bringing the Rolling Stones in town is the biggest coup since the beginning of festival director Kosslicks leadership.
A very glamorous and vibrant prelude to a large program focused on music.
Besides Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts, the crowd is waiting for several other legends of music to appear.
Probably the most attractive one amongst the others is the “Queen of Pop” Madonna, presenting her feature film debut with Filth & Wisdom.

Neil Young who is working as a filmmaker since the early 70’s using the pseudonym Bernard Shakey (see the famous and/or infamous JOURNEY THROUGH THE PAST), is also presenting his documentary CSNY- DÈJÁ VU on tour with “Crosby, Stills and Nash”.

And last but not least activist and music legend Patti Smith is presented by the very intimate portrait Dream of Life made by Steven Sebring.
Not really an ambitious movie genre, strictly speaking. But there could be worse parents than Daddy Scorsese and Mummy Smith.

That leads me to another point.
Besides the focus on music and documentation, the presence of stories about children struggling with their destinies is striking. Among them Heart of Fire or music documentations like War Child, a documentation about a Sudanese Hip Hop Star or the Filipino film Tribu. The focus on music movies is completed also by a range selection of very fascinating films like the just mentioned ones and films like Heavy Metal in Baghdad.
These films are much more discerning than the hero worship of the first ones mentioned. But the selection reveals the cross marketing ambition between the two market giants and their peering to profit from another, which totally worked today with a fulminant opening – unorthodox but clever.

Let’s rock!

om shanti om

di Farah Khan
India/Gran Bretagna 2007, 168'

1st day

Berlin - Cinecittà: After the opening night with the granddaddies of Rock – the Stones – and Martin Scorsese there is no slowdown in town. More than 20.000 guests accredited among them 4000 journalists stirred with movie junkies from all over the world drowned the city as well as the biggest movie star fan club ever. A weird colourful crowd of women dressed in the traditional saree in anticipation of Shah Rukh Khanh – the biggest star in Bollywood and one of the most beloved crushs in the world. Already on february 5th the premiere of Om Shanti Om was sold out after five minutes - some were sold for almost 350 Euro on Ebay afterwards - no wonder that many tears of joy were seen, when Khan himself gave away more tickets on the red carpet. Due to the organisation team of the Berlinale there was another screening scheduled at night. King Khan (his nickname in India) enjoyed giving autographs (even on a babybelly!), hugs and kisses for about 30 minutes. The atmosphere in the cinema was euphoric and very entertaining and one could feel that the audience could hardly remain on their seats, lots of clapping, singing and screaming during the film made the screening into a real Indian experience. At the end everyone was dancing, including Dorothee Wenner (director of the Berlinale Talent Campus) who was trying very hard to get Khan to Berlin since years and finally succeeded. During the Q&A the Indian superstar confirmed that he will be coming back to Berlin soon to shoot for his next film, mostly action scenes, since he will be taking over the European mafia in the story. His German fans prefer him as the romantic charming and dancing protagonist that he performs in most of his films, which is one of the reasons why he was part of a Berlinale Talent Campus Talk with the title: "Love International".
Alongside the stars in the program bad news from the Jury: Formerly eight international guests called to build the Competition Jury were reduced to six members only. Sandrine Bonnaire and Susanne Bier had to cancel their participation in the very last minute because of some unpredictable urgency for their own next film projects. The Jury took it easy.

there will be blood

di Paul Thomas Anderson
Stati Uniti 2007, 158'

Ready, Steady, GO!

The competition kicks off

On the first day it seems there is already a favourite candidate for the golden bear. There will be blood from the states is hanging up high the straightedge. Although the screening got some problems at the beginning with the sound settings and the audience became querulous nobody despised the film or lost the haunting tension of the movie. Nominated already in eight categories for the Academy Award and yet won the Golden Globe in the category of best actor. It’s a story about an evil and destructive man, who sacrifices everything he has till he has nothing more to loose, intensely played in a painfully bitter manner by Day Lewis being surrounded by dark angels. On one hand the Machiavellian hypocrite and bigot preacher Eli who follows his own path and mission to banish the devil from the so called lost souls. And on the other hand the black gold - named oil! Paul Thomas Anderson set up an allegoric parable about greed and the potency to wield power, which is as up to date as it was centuries ago. It’s a powerful painting wrapped in an impressive beautiful cinematography - deserted lands, digging men in muddy gorges and exploding oil rigs hotly burning the men faces and enlightening darksome nights till morning comes and the fire gets choked. Not to forget the painful melancholic music of Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood.

28/ 30

musta jaÄ

black ice

di Petri Kotwica
Finlandia/Germania 2007, 100'

Less one could say about the finnish contribution in the competition: Musta Jaä/Black Ice unintentionally comical sometimes. The film is focussing on the invisible mazes in love and the classical ménage a trois story. When a man loves two woman and two women love the same man. But as the women build up a friendship things become not only complicated but deeply painful. So far a seductive and thrilling plot. Leo doesn’t know that his wife Sara does know and would never imagine his wife to creep in in Tuulis and Leos lover life manipulating their relationship and becoming friend with Tuuli his architecture student. The film starts dynamically, soaked in various shades of blue of a cold and melancholic winter landscape. But there is this feeling that something is not working, not reliable. Especially because the characters remain some drafts and close to the end things go far beyond. Especially when director Petri Kotwica starts playing games with the expectations of his audience, trying to catalyze his story with too preconceived thrilling elements of suspense. It seems he didn’t know where to end losing himself a bit along the road. Peccato! It’s a moral story at the end in which neither can live while the other stay alive.

26/30