At a party dedicated to the documentary film by Wim Wenders “A lot happened. A film about BAP”, shown as part of the 52nd Berlin Film Festival, was played by the legendary Dusseldorf group “BAP” for the Germans (the closest analogue we have is...

H

and a party dedicated to the documentary film by Wim Wenders “A lot happened. Film about BAP”, shown within the framework of the 52nd Berlin Film Festival, was played by the legendary Dusseldorf group “BAP” for the Germans (the closest analogue we have is the Yekaterinburg “Nautilus Pompilius”). And 53-year-old Dieter Kosslik, the new director of the Berlinale, enthusiastically added his bass solo to the BAP. And exhaling and wiping the sweat, he admitted that “hell, when was the last time good rock played.”

But, judging by the selection of films of the current Berlin festival and the list of prize-winners, Kosslick plays rock not for the last time. The festival is clearly moving towards melodies that are far from the classical sound...

M

Oritz de Hadeln, who headed the festival for more than 20 years, was dismissed by the German government. The idea of ​​a supra-political bridge between East and West, which he advocated, is clearly outdated. In addition, there has always been a lot of American cinema in Berlin, and German cinema, which is experiencing a certain heyday, feels left out. The new "Berlin" director, producer and distributor Kosslick emphasized that the slogan of his team's work was "Accept differences", and the goal was to create a festival with which German cinema could identify itself. As a result, the German Film Perspective appeared among the Berlin programs, and two German films appeared in the competition: the touching and funny “family” Diner, about two East German married couples (Silver Bear Grand Prix), and the West German film, shot hysterically. -moving video "Map of the Heart" - about a woman nervously experiencing parting with her lover in the resort of Corsica.

Dieter Kosslik's speech at the opening was accompanied by laughter - self-irony turned out to be the director's second "I". And Reich Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was sitting in the hall of the Berlinale Palasta without any security and among the public ...

The “big” Berlin jury, led by Mira Nair, a world-famous Indian director, included Renata Litvinova (which even entailed the translation of competitive screenings into Russian: our star turned out to be ours to the very roots, foreign languages ​​​​are not her element). The out-of-competition Panorama featured Sergei Ovcharov's Tale of Fedot the Sagittarius, while the Young Cinema Forum included Konstantin Murzenko's April and the Russian-German documentary Roads by Marat Magambetov.

In addition, Russia has clearly become a kind of supplier of thematic raw materials, an inexhaustible source of dramatic conflicts for the cinema of the world. In the program of the forum, I counted about a dozen documentaries and feature films, the action of which takes place in Russia or where the Russian is the main character. The European film market, which traditionally operates within the framework of the film festival, hosted a roundtable discussion of Russian producers.

So, according to the new Berlin slogan, at least our differences were accepted.

Berlin was less tolerant of American distinctions. Several films of the festival have entered into open dialogue with America about the nature of terrorism.

IN

it all started right from the opening - with "Paradise" by the young star of European director Tom Tykwer, filmed according to the concept and script of Krzysztof Kieślowski. In other words, "Paradise" should show the world that the source of Euro-talent does not dry up: the young pride of European cinema continued the work of a classic who died before he could realize his new trilogy "Heaven - Hell - Purgatory".

The first film of the future trilogy, however, demonstrates that each generation has its own pride. Tykwer, who made "Run, Lola, Run" and "The Princess and the Warrior", that is, confirmed his personal and directorial quality, turned out to be alien to the problems that worried Kieslowski. The hero of a thirty-year-old German usually goes to his goal and realizes himself in freedom of choice, the heroine of "Paradise" has no choice at all: everything is predetermined in her fate. Another thing came to the fore with Tykver: both the “non-terrorist”, whom the police are trying to sew on a case of belonging to a certain organization, and her savior will be crushed by the colossus of state institutions.

Approximately the same thing happens in the film Bloody Sunday by the Irishman Paul Greengrass, based on real events in Derry in Northern Ireland in 1972 (the shooting of a demonstration by the police). The same pathos is in “Amen” – a film by Costa-Gavras, in which the heroes during the Second World War are trying to call on the Vatican to condemn fascism. As you know, in vain. But even from this picture it follows that the most unpunished terrorist is the state, Moloch, indifferent to individual people.

In Berlin, one more thing became apparent. Fine, honest, morally preoccupied realist films now seem to cause irritation. The unfortunate Bertrand Tavernier, another unconditional Euroclassic, was nearly torn to pieces at a press conference for the film Pass. "The Pass" tells how the French film industry behaved towards the occupiers during the war. But it is very boring and desperately full-length (almost three hours) ... Accusations of pathetism, fanabery of the author-teacher of life and the absence of healthy self-irony hovered in the air.

It seems that the jury was also tired of cinema that is directly narrative, psychological, if you like. And do you know how it did?

It gave the main prize, the "Golden Bear", to two stylistically mutually exclusive films - "Bloody Sunday" and Hayao Miyazaki's full-length animated "Journey of Chihiro", a classic of the unique "anime" genre invented by the Japanese. And thus it almost proclaimed: it is better to have such final artlessness as a reconstruction of real events with the inclusion of interviews of their real participants. Or the final convention - a cartoon about a little girl. She ended up in a land of spirits, similar to our civilization, with a rigid hierarchy and the loss of a person in a well-functioning social mechanism, created, as it were, for his convenience ... Almost a document and a pure metaphor.

Well, really, how serious Tavernier was to be taken seriously after the “8 Women” of his young compatriot Francois Ozon. A film in which Danielle Darier, Catherine Deneuve, Fanny Ardant, Isabelle Huppert, Virginie Ledoyen, Emmanuelle Beart are collected with captivating simplicity in one place (country house), at one time (Christmas) - this is exactly what Ozone has a "gentleman's set" of stars all generations. A cunning and caustic semi-detective in the spirit of Agatha Christie, semi-musical. The desperate courage of the stars, who were not afraid to be in the frame next to each other, was rewarded with the Silver Bear for the acting ensemble.

The press conference on "8 Women" was delayed by 40 minutes. The journalists did not express indignation that, in general, it was unusual for the Berlin Festival: at the slightest delay, colleagues inform the organizers about the obligations of the festival. And then there is humility. Everyone was just waiting for Catherine Deneuve, who played the main role in 8 Women ... Meanwhile, the waiter at the Grand Hyatt hotel carried dishes under sparkling covers ...

When he proceeded with coffee, the photographers fussed with the equipment ... A rumor spread: Deneuve, who had just arrived in Berlin, delayed the press conference because of a dinner taking place at the French, as you know, at the hours allotted strictly for this. And when she appeared, she shocked those present with a bold combination of colors in an elegant suit - a scarlet jacket, a tight black skirt and at the same time a bright lilac silk blouse ... So "8 Women" shocked the same - a combination of the avant-garde "gamma" with the severity " cut.

B

Erlin this year was generally characterized by emphasized informality and complacency. At the forefront of the complacency parade was Kevin Spacey. At a press conference for the film "Ship News", in which he has the main role, he was asked about the vow made a few days before the "Berlinal" - Spacey announced that he wants to take a break from his acting career and his immediate future associated with production activities.

The program of the Berlinale features the first result of the work of the Spacey producer - a touching and dashing documentary "Uncle Frank" - about an 85-year-old rock musician making a tour of nursing homes in New York. With the painting, Spacey shows gratitude to America's "dashing old men" who supported him so much in his youth. For example, Jack Lemmon, who once took Spacey "under his wing." By the way, at the same press conference, Spacey's patheticism was somewhat reduced by the ironic Cate Blanchett, who plays a completely unconventional role in Ship News. Those who remember her Queen Galadriel from The Lord of the Rings will be shocked by her new heroine - a rare bitch and also a brunette.

Another "star with a human face" in Berlin is last year's Oscar winner Russell Crowe. In the out-of-competition "Bright Mind" he played an outstanding mathematician engaged by the secret services. Here in Berlin, he thanked his teacher for teaching him mathematics at an Australian high school.

Owen Willson, actor and screenwriter of The Royal Tannenbaums, a caustic comedy about family values, also demonstrated a commitment to high ideals. Willson himself turned out to be a living confirmation of them. He avoided meeting with his Berlin fans, arguing the refusal curiously: "The devil knows what can happen there, but I came to Berlin with my mother."

A fly in the ointment was added by the American Halle Berry, who was later awarded the Silver Bear for Best Actress. The star of Mark Foster's wonderful film "The Monster's Ball" at a press conference entered into some skirmish with the director. The Ball impressed the audience with an exceptionally long erotic scene featuring Berry and Billy Bob Thornton. The director admitted that he forgot how long this scene is. And Berry remarked: “You forgot, Mark!”

TO

As a "subversive" of traditional realism and a supporter of the cinema of the flow of unconscious life, Otar Ioseliani was also awarded the Silver Bear for directing.

"Monday Morning", like his previous painting "Home Sweet Home", is imbued with the idea that it is better to be rich and drunk than poor and sober. Incidentally, the hard-working Western European colleagues-journalists who filled the huge hall of the Berlinale-Palast applauded this pathos of the film, as they never did during the screenings.

Having long been making films for the same life-loving philosophers like himself, Ioseliani said at his press conference that he does not like to participate in festivals - worldview competitions are worthless. But who would have thought that the Berlin festival, once so politically preoccupied, would be filled - from the public to the jury - so to speak, "joselians"? As the hero of the joke said: a trend, however.