BERLIN AND BEYOND Feb. 9-15, 2018

[Chris Knipp]

BERLIN AND BEYOND, Feb.9-15, 2018

Festival Coverage section here.




Berlin and Beyond is a festival of films by or about Germans presented by by the Goethe-Institut of San Francisco. See the program on their website HERE.

I will describe a few of the selections.
INDEX TO ALL FILMLEAF REVIEWS:

Beuys (Andres Veiel 2017)
Code of Survival or the End of Genetic Engineering (Bertram Verhaag 2017)
Egon Schiele: Death and the Maiden/Egon Schiele: Tod und Mädchen (Dieter Berner 2016)
Godless Youth/Jugend ohne Gott (Alain Gsponer 2017))
Mr. Gay Syria (Ayse Toprak 2017)
Paradise/Rai (Andrey Konchalovsky 2017)
That Trip We Took with Dad/Die Reise mit Vater (Anca Mircuna Lăzărescu 2016)
Welcome to Germany/Willkommen bei den Hartmanns (Simon Verhoeven 2016)

[Chris Knipp]

THAT TRIP WE TOOK WITH DAD (Anca M. Lăzărescu 2016)

First look is a dryly comic trip back to Romania in 1968 when Russia sends massive troops to tamp down freedoms in Czechoslovakia just when a little German-speaking family living in Romania sets out to drive to East Germany. The director, a documentarian in her first feature, takes off from the experiences of her own father in those tantalizing days when a Beatles record was a secret treasure for Eastern Europeans, dreaming of freedom through the magic of pop.

[Chris Knipp]

GODLESS YOUTH/JUGEND OHNE GOTT (Alain Gsponer 2017)

This feature from Swiss director Alain Gsponer about a camp to pick out superior individuals for an elite school is based on a novel by Ödön von Horvath that was a critique of Nazi ideology. Von Horvath was a successful German language playwright of Austro-Hungarian origin who had to leave Germany after this was published in 1937. He died the next year, at only thirty-six, felled by a falling branch in Paris, just when he was talking to the director Robert Siodmak about making this into a movie. It has been filmed at least twice before in Germany, and in 1996 for French television by Catherine Corsini. Its ideas about the bad effects of cutthroat competition and undemocratic social constructs is relevant today. Like Corsini, Gsponer hasn't made it as a period piece but set it in a neutral future.

[Chris Knipp]

EGON SCHIELE: DEATH AND THE MAIDEN/EGON SCHIELE: TOD UND MÄDCHEN (Dieter Berner 2016)

With a breezy touch, Berner sketches the artistic and private life of the successor of Gustav Klimt. The two were masters of the early twentieth century Viennese style - tortured, shocking, erotic, elegant and stylish work that still looks modern. This film may lack depth but it avoids the melodramatic cliches of the genre and its star discovery, Noah Saavedra, carries it attractively. (This review was previously published last year when the film was shown in the Mill Valley Film Festival.)

[Chris Knipp]

PARADISE/RAI (Andrey Konchalovsky 2017)

This is a disturbing, ambitious WWII and Holocaust movie by the Russian director with narratives in French, Russian, and German by three main characters, one of whom drops out early on. Beautiful, lush black and white images in retro and claustrophobic academy ratio (Sokurov might be an influence) and good acting by the principals are definite pluses, but some serious missteps make this highly unsatisfactory despite being tantalizingly full of promise. (This film had limited US release in early Oct. 2017.)

[Chris Knipp]

CODE OF SURVIVAL OR THE END OF GENETIC ENGINEERING (Bertram Verhaag 2017)

Verhaag has made nine documentaries about GMO plants and their danger to health and the environment. This is the latest. It focuses on farming using GMOs in the US, and leading examples of organic farming in Egypt, India, and the US. A powerful editorial statement against the "biggies," Monsanto, Dupont, Dow, etc., who have sought to create a world where agriculture is to their exclusive benefit.

[Chris Knipp]

WELCOME TO GERMANY/WELLKOMMEN BEI DEN HARTMANNS (Simon Verhoeven 2016)

This isn't really a typical festival film or even a good movie. It is simply the only big box office success in Germany in 2015 and early 2016 that was made locally. As such, it reflects what the locals needed to watch - a feel-good refugee comedy. That may sound like bad taste or nuttiness, but it tells us quite a lot about the refugee problem and what middle class Germans want to think about it, and what they do think. A well-off family adopts a Nigerian Boko Haram victim, and in the process resolve their own problems - self-centered behavior, insecurity, workaholism, and other addictions are all resolved by turning to help cuddly little Dialo. A popular director and popular cast make up for a messy plot.