Berlinale
-
Berlin Critic’s Notebook 2: Bright Nights, A Fantastic Woman
Thomas Arslan’s flaccid anti-Western Gold, which screened here in Competition four years ago, spoiled what could have been a brilliant hat-trick for the Berlin School alumnus following Vacation and In the Shadows. With Bright Nights he’s back in great form, once again showcasing his flair for precise, intimately scaled dramas. Like his compatriot Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann, a quick synopsis of Arslan’s film makes it sound like standard feel-good Hollywood fare: after his estranged father dies, the protagonist Michael decides to try and reconnect with his own teenage son Luis, whom he barely knows, and takes him on a road trip, embarking on a journey towards […]
by Giovanni Marchini Camia on Feb 16, 2017 -
Trust Fund Kids in Hollywood: Mike Ott on California Dreams
In Mike Ott’s California Dreams (which I reviewed here), five aspiring actors are shown giving auditions and later acting out scenes in a film-within-the-film. Although this nested film is supposed to be a fiction, and also looks like one thanks to the gorgeous work of cinematographer Mike Gioulakis, the script is drawn – or appears to be drawn – directly from the actors’ biographies. One of the fascinating aspects of California Dreams is that Ott never allows you to know for certain how much is real and how much is fabricated. It was therefore a pleasure to be able to […]
by Giovanni Marchini Camia on Feb 15, 2017 -
Berlin Critic’s Notebook #1: somniloquies, El mar la mar, California Dreams
Some lines from Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor’s somniloquies: “I don’t wanna see your ass, Mrs. Dangerfield.” “Welcome to Midget City. Yes, we built it from the ground up. We have our own police.” “I’ve seen the past. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it! I want the future. The present is squalid!” “Kill the cunt! KILL THE CUNT!!” These are all spoken by Dion McGregor, a musician from New York described in the film’s opening titles as “the world’s most prolific sleep-talker.” Over a period of six years, McGregor’s flatmate recorded hundreds of his elaborate, vividly narrated […]
by Giovanni Marchini Camia on Feb 13, 2017
