Translated material
A protracted triumph
The 57th Berlin Film Festival opens today
Today, the festival palace on Marlene Dietrich Square will host the opening of the Berlinale, the largest international film forum, which for decades has been fighting with Cannes and Venice for supremacy in the festival trio. Festival director Dieter Kosslick, who took over from Moritz de Hadeln in 2001, is as optimistic as ever. 373 films in the official program, about 50 venues, more than 700 films in the program of the young, dynamically developing Berlin film market - the figures presented at the press conference cannot but impress.Perhaps there is only one thing that confuses me. Under Kosslick, the festival has become even more mainstream, and such pleasant surprises as Tsai Ming-liang's "Capricious Cloud", which won several prizes a couple of years ago, are becoming less and less common in the main competition. So there are some doubts that all of the 26 films presented in the competition program will arouse the same enthusiasm among the sophisticated public and the press.
If we formulate in one line the policy of the selectors of the main competition, we can say that they give clear preference to middle-aged, respectable classics. Two-time Cannes winner Dane Bille August will show his new film “Goodbye Bafana”. Robert De Niro will once again try his hand at directing with the film “The Good Shepherd” (an anecdotal translation of the title has already appeared in the press - “The Good Shepherd”, but no, this is not about sheep, but about an intelligence officer who has to go through difficult compromise with one's conscience). Steven Soderbergh will present The Good German with his favorite George Clooney. The hosts, unlike in previous years, nominated only one film for the competition - “Yella” by Christian Petzold.
The French names Andre Techinet and Jacques Rivette represented in the competition are no less authoritative. In addition, the French were entrusted with opening and closing the festival. Today they will show “The Little Sparrow” by Olivier Dahan. For clarity, the international title of the film is “La Vie En Rose,” but film and music connoisseurs will already understand that this is not about sparrows, but about Edith Piaf, who bore this gentle nickname. Starring Marion Cotillard from three episodes of Taxi and Tim Burton's Big Fish. And at the closing ceremony “Angel” by Francois Ozon will be shown, which in Russia does not need any special introductions. Starring the great Charlotte Rampling.
Two stars of English-language cinema are also scheduled to appear at the festival - Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett, who starred in the film Notes on a Scandal and have already been nominated for an Oscar for their roles. The jury will be headed by another classic - American director and screenwriter Paul Schrader.
However, let's not rush and name the two main enemies of the international festival movement - predictability and boredom. After all, no festival would refuse to present such films and such names. There are also films from which you can expect surprises: these are two Chinese films, “Tuyi’s Wedding” and “Lost in Beijing,” about which another scandal is breaking out, caused by the strict demands of censors, and a Korean film by Oldboy Park Chan-Wook with with the cute title “I’m a cyborg, but there’s nothing wrong with that.”
Even if the competition program does not live up to its expectations, Berlin, as always, will take advantage of its superbly organized and selected non-competition programs - “Forum” and “Panorama”, the main hits of which are usually difficult for even accredited journalists to see. However, what else can you expect from the capital, where attendance at, for example, art exhibitions can reach several million people (do families go to them, or what?). “Panorama” will also present a Russian film - a documentary report on the Moscow gay pride parade banned by the authorities, “Moscow. Pride '06" directed by Vladimir Ivanov. And at the Forum there will be an event for real connoisseurs - the premiere of a new opus by the Canadian nonconformist from cinematographer Guy Maddin. Filmed in Maddin's usual black-and-white silent film aesthetic, Branded Brain will be shown at the Deutsche Opera, accompanied by an orchestra and a live Isabella Rossellini, who will comment on the on-screen events.
Before the opening of the festival, Dieter Kosslick criticized the “nouveau riche festivals” - Rome and Dubai, which do not hesitate to lure stars for astronomical fees. “If we allowed ourselves to pay to come to the festival,” Kosslick said, “the budget would immediately be exhausted, and the festival would close in two and a half days.” And so, if everything goes according to plan, the Berlinale will close on February 18. Wait for your correspondent's reports.