Berlin Film Festival Reviews
‘After This Death’ Review: MÃa Maestro and Lee Pace in a Dud Follow-Up to Lucio Castro’s Transfixing ‘End of the Century’
Rupert Friend, Gwendoline Christie and Philip Ettinger also star in the Argentinian director’s slow-boil mystery set during the fall in upstate New York.
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‘Late Shift’ Review: Gripping Drama Revolves Around an Extraordinary Leonie Benesch as an Overworked and Tireless Nurse
The ‘Teachers' Lounge’ star toplines Petra Volpe’s day-in-the-life medical procedural set in the surgical ward of a Swiss hospital.
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‘Khartoum’ Review: Experimental Doc Poignantly Captures the Crisis in Sudan
A collective of Sudanese and British filmmakers collaborate with five residents from Khartoum to construct a kaleidoscopic document of identity, survival and hope.
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‘Blue Moon’ Review: Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley Mesmerize in Richard Linklater’s Affecting Study of a Gifted Artist on a Downhill Slide
Bobby Cannavale and Andrew Scott co-star in this real-time account of musical-theater lyricist Lorenz Hart getting pickled at Sardi’s on opening night of his former writing partner’s Broadway triumph, ‘Oklahoma!’
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‘What Marielle Knows’ Review: In This Darkly Clever German Comedy, a Teenage Girl Can See Right Through Her Parents
Writer-director Frédéric Hambalek's second feature follows a bourgeois family of three whose life is upended when their daughter suddenly gains telepathic powers.
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‘The Blue Trail’ Review: A Gorgeous Aquatic Road Movie That Turns the Amazon Into a Magical Escape From Exile to Freedom
Gabriel Mascaro’s dystopian fantasy stars Denise Weinberg as a spirited Brazilian senior who refuses to bow to ageist authoritarian dictates while she still has dreams and desires.
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‘Girls on Wire’ Review: A Sensitive but Unsteady Portrait of Chinese Generational Trauma and Sisterhood
In Vivian Qu's third feature, two estranged cousins confront old wounds after they are reunited under dangerous and dramatic circumstances.
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‘Olmo’ Review: Fernando Eimbcke’s Coming-of-Age Story Strikes a Winning Balance Between Melancholy and Gentle Farce
Set in 1979 New Mexico, the comic drama revolves around a teen boy’s attempt to juggle fun with serious family responsibilities.
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‘Islands’ Review: Sam Riley and Stacy Martin in a Sun-Soaked Noir That Lets Its Tension Slacken in the Closing Stretch
Set around a luxury hotel in the Canary Islands, Jan-Ole Gerster’s drama follows a Brit tennis coach whose inertia is shaken up when he gets entangled with a guest after her husband goes missing.
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‘Köln 75’ Review: John Magaro Hits the Right Notes in a Frustrating Music Drama That Marginalizes the Headliner
Mala Emde plays Vera Brandes, the 18-year-old music promoter without whom Keith Jarrett's celebrated piano recording, ‘The Köln Concert,’ might not have happened.
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‘Dreams’ Review: Jessica Chastain Is Chilling in Michel Franco’s Scalding Study of Love and Privilege
Mexican ballet dancer Isaac Hernández co-stars as an undocumented immigrant who pins his bid for permanency in the U.S. on his relationship with a wealthy San Francisco philanthropist.
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‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North’ Review: Jacob Elordi in Justin Kurzel’s Haunting Contemplation of the Losses of Love and War
Adapted from the novel and co-starring Ciarán Hinds and Odessa Young, the five-part limited series examines the harrowing experiences of an Australian Army medical officer during World War II and four decades later.
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