Black Coal, Thin Ice
In the past 10 days I was in war in Afghanistan (In between Worlds), in India with a couple of Bavarians (Amma & Appa), robbed a bank (The Dog) and sat in one room with George Clooney (Press Conference). I saw 37 films in the 10 Berlinale days and as you can imagine I’m pretty buggered.
The Internaional Berlin Film Festival was a movie marathon and also demanded high emotional intensity from me. Because with each new film you dive into a new world. And if everything goes well and the audience can really identify with the characters the stories don’t simply happen to them on screen, but also to those watching.
So the film spectacle swollowed me whole and then spit me back out into the real world yesterday. Now I’m trying to comprehend what happened to me, make meaning out of what I saw and survived.
Like last year I managed to see almost each film in the competition, but miss the winner. I don’t even know anymore why I decided not to watch the chinese thriller Black Coal, Thin Ice, but I didn’t and now have to hope it makes the theatres soon.
Wes Andersons film The Grand Budapest Hotel scooped up the silver bear. I was neither thrilled nor upset, but the phantastical nostalgic trip through an imaginary old day Europe convinced the jury more than myself.
Bears for best actors went to Japanese Haru Kuroki for her performance in The Little House and the main actor in Black Coal, Thin Ice Liao Fan.
Quite a few films from the Berlinale Special Programm will hit German theatres over the next few months and I will keep you updated on all that I’ve seen.
First up is American Hustle, which won the Bafta Award for Best Film yesterday. A detailed review is up next week, all I can say for now is: Go watch it!
