Director James Mangold’s Logan is the best movie of the X-Men series. Despite the fact that “Logan” is a purely commercial film, it was screened out of competition at the Berlinale 2017. It is the tenth installment in the X-Men film series and the last picture to focus on the character of Wolverine. The film
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The Other Side of Hope Review – Berlinale 2017
Disappointing picture by Aki Kaurismäki lacks a compelling plot and has few laughs. The Other Side of Hope is the long awaited film of the outstanding Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki. His most successful films such as The Match Factory Girl and The Man Without a Past with their distinctive minimalist style and acerbic jokes made
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Wild Mouse (Wilde Maus) Review – Berlinale 2017
Wild Mouse, the directorial debut of cabaret artist Josef Hader, is a film about a small man made for a small audience. The film “Wild Mouse” (Wilde Maus) directed, written and starring Josef Hader was screened in competition at the 2017 Berlinale. The picture is the film debut of Hader who is well-known in Austria
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Hostages (2017) Review – Berlinale 2017
Gripping drama by Rezo Gigineishvili about a plane hijacking in 1983 Georgia The film Hostages (Mdzevlebi) directed by the young Georgian director Rezo Gigineishvili was shown at the Berlinale in the Panorama section. It is based on the true events of a plane hijacking in 1983 by a group of youngsters belonging to the artistic
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Return to Montauk Review – Berlinale 2017
Stellan Skarsgård stars in Volker Schlöndorff’s lyrical adaptation of the autobiographical novel by Max Frisch. The film Return to Montauk by veteran director Volker Schlöndorff was screened at the Berlinale in competition. It tells the story of the famous aging writer Max Zorn who has regrets about this past, in particular about his failed relationship
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The Midwife (Sage Femme) Review – Berlinale 2017
Catherine Deneuve plays Béatrice in Martin Provost’s forgettable picture. The Midwife (Sage Femme) was shown at the 2017 Berlinale out of competition. The film provokes many questions and the most important one is why this trashy opus of Martin Provost was selected for the program of the festival. Perhaps the answer is the participation of
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Viceroy’s House Review – Berlinale 2017
Gurinder Chadha’s skillful examination of the political turmoil in 1947 India. The picture Viceroy’s House directed by Gurinder Chadha was screened out of competition at the Berlinale. The film tells the story of love between Jeet and Aalia set against the historical scenes surrounding partition of India in 1947. Their differing religious backgrounds become a
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The Student (2016) – Review
The Student is an amusing character study of a religious fanatic “The Student” – “(M)uchenik” directed by Kirill Serebrennikov is an attempt to reconsider religious fanaticism in the modern world. The picture is based on the play “Martyr” by German author Marius von Mayenburg and it was adapted to the reality of modern Russia. In a
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Art and Alienation
In order to analyze the present state of cinematography I need to use the theory of alienation. More than 170 years ago Karl Marx wrote his Capital, where he brilliantly analyses the phenomenon of alienation in the capitalist society. Nowadays we can see that his words, written at the early stage of capitalist development, became
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The Revenant Review
Film “The Revenant” by Alejandro González Iñárritu is highly acclaimed for its realism combined with almost fantastical landscapes. The film is incredibly beautiful and was shot using natural light and with minimal special effects. ‘’The light is very reduced here in winter, and we are not shooting with any electrical lighting, just natural light. And
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Problems of Humanism in Solaris by Tarkovsky
The film Solaris was based on the fantastic novel by Stanislaw Lem but there is no doubt that the film adaptation by Tarkovsky is much deeper and more interesting than the novel. The novel of Stanislaw Lem is more about the exploration of the cosmos and the film of Tarkovsky is more about the earth
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Dreams of Home in the Films of Andrei Tarkovsky
The dreamlike images of home present in many of Andrei Tarkovsky’s films have an allegorical meaning and reflect the transformation of the conscious and of the subconscious world of the author. Andrei Tarkovsky is renowned for metaphorical language, philosophical dialogue, esoteric symbolism and the blending between the subjective and objective. In his memoir Sculpting in
