And it’s a wrap! How to see the next big thing at the movies. Plus very new stuff!

My Goodness!

What a fabulous ten (10) days we have had in Berlin.

Just wow!

Sunday was the last day of the Berlin International Film Festival otherwise known as the Berlinale! And what a wonderful time we all had!

We had a long, fantastic fortnight of films, films, and yes more films!

I live in Berlin. And of course, I’ve been to the Berlinale before but last year was the first time ever, to go there as a press person.

Never as a professional journalist!

So this year, I went as a pro!

Let me tell you.

It was cool stuff!

Berlin has been hobnobbing with the best. If it’s good enough for the likes of the talented Hugh Jackman (Wolverine), Patrick Stewart (the X-Men), Penélope Cruz, Sienna Miller and Robert Pattinson (Harry Potter & Twilight) surely, it must be good enough for you!

In the flurry of excitement and talented art, I managed to watch forty-four (44) films in just ten (10) days.

Forty-Four!

I admit. It was a little exhausting but some films were long and some weren’t.

I’m a Vice-Principal & Corporate English Manager,  I’m married and have a teenage son, so I always have to get smart and creative. During the week, I went to only two movies per day – late night – and then really went crazy over the weekend.

I must be bonkers!

Book your hotel here!

Here are the films that I watched:

• T2 Trainspotting
• The Party
• Viceroy’s House
• Logan
• The Best Of All Worlds or Die beste aller Welten
• Django
• Bye Bye Germany or Es war einmal in Deutschland…
• Vaya
• Becoming Who I Was
• Menashe

• Dream Boat
• Casting JonBenet
• Berlin Syndrome
• 1945
• Vazante
• Animal or Tiere
• Foreign Body or Jassad gharib
• Mr. Long
• Ciao Ciao
• Wallay

• The Other Side of Hope or Toivon tuolla puolen
• God’s Own Country
• Stonehead or Shi Tou
• The Tundra Book. A Ta… or Kniga Tundry. Povest’ o Vukvukaye
• My Wonderful West Berlin or Mein wunderbares West-Berlin
• The Taste of Betel Nut or Bing Lang Xue
• Railway Sleepers or Mon rot fai
• Just Like Our Parents or Como Nossos Pais
• Grandfather or Aaba
• Black Head Cow or Engiteng’ Narok Lukunya
  

• The Dress on Her
• Insyriated
• In a Nutshell
• Li.le
• My Gay Sister or Min Homosyster
• Swedish Cousin or La prima sueca
• Playground or Terrain de jeux
• Volcanoisland or Vulkánsziget
• White Riot: London
• The Catch

• Lost Child or Xalé Bu Rérr
• Promise
• The Jungle Knows You Better Than You Do
• Sirens

In my opinion, every film was brilliant, and none were duds!

So without further ado, here are the films that I think are going to be the next big thing, in alphabetical order!

AND IT’S A WRAP!

HOW TO SEE THE NEXT BIG THING AT THE MOVIES. PLUS VERY NEW STUFF!

THE HITS FOR EVERYONE!

1. Becoming Who I Was

A seemingly ordinary boy (Padma Angdu) who lives in the Himalayan region of India, discovers (at the age of 5), that he is the highest ranking reincarnated Tibetan monk, giving him the noble and spiritual title of Rinpoche! However, the fact that the young boy was born in the India and hence in the wrong place, leads to his banishment from the local monastery in Ladakh. And so the lad is separated from his destiny, his spiritual monastery and thus his disciples, as his monastery is in closed-door Chinese Tibet!

This film is the real-life story of his struggle to get into Tibet and back to his people, with the help of his guardian, teacher and godfather Urgyan Rickzen.

I won’t tell you whether he succeeds, but I can tell you that there was not a dry eye in the room, and various sounds of sniffing and blowing of handkerchiefs!

If you can find this documentary, you must watch it!

2. Logan

I’m thinking that Logan, needs no introduction but if you’ve been living under a stone in the last ten (17) years, he’s also known as The Wolverine, from the X-Men!

The Wolverine is one of the greatest comic book heroes ever created and happily, Hugh Jackman was more than able to reprise his iconic role as The Wolverine for one final time. Mind you, this isn’t your every-day bubble-gum X-Men saga, ‘cos the film is bloody, violent, disturbing and raw, so get ready to hold onto your seat.

We saw it in a press-only screening, so I couldn’t make any comment about it when I first watched it!

As the only girl in a family of boys, my inclusion into the MARVEL family, and any other male-dominated comic / magazine, was always going to be a thing.

It’s 2029 and the mutants are gone – or almost gone. Could this be the last we hear of Logan? If you’re male, you’re going to love it. I know I did!

3. T2 Trainspotting

Yeeeees!

They’re back.

The boys are back in town, looking as roguish as when we last left them, 21 years ago!

Yikes!

It was the 90’s and for many people, the original Trainspotting film provided an adrenalin rush to the British movie scene, injecting the soundtrack of Underworld’s – Born Slippy NUXX – raves, techno clubs, ecstasy, poverty, politics, and the reality of a dead-end life into Scotland, and many parts of forgotten Britain at the time.

Trainspotting pretty much made careers out of our unforgettable anti-heroes – Ewan McGregor (Renton), Jonny Lee Miller (Sick Boy), Robert Carlyle (Begbie), and Ewen Bremner (Spud). I mean, I have the original book written by Irvine Welsh, I’ve seen the film a million times, and I even have the soundtrack somewhere, as we all use to go mad with it! As for me, it was the music more than anything that really made the film a cult one.

I’m amazed that Danny Boyle managed to get everyone together again with a shoot of over 70 locations, 12 sets, and 55 days, but manage they did, and they all look great. Indeed, the two main characters still manage to get into a pair of skinny jeans, and that’s saying a lot.

I won’t say any more except to say that T2 Trainspotting is a continuation of the first film, with flashbacks here and there, and references to the original story.

I loved it, and will most likely watch it again when it comes out at the cinema. You should too!

Book your hotel here!

4. Viceroy’s House

Viceroy’s House is the personal story of the family of the British director – Gurinder Chadha.

The film is about the 1947 Partition of India into Pakistan, and how it affected everyone involved. The story takes place entirely in Viceroy’s House, the British Raj’s seat of government in Delhi, to create an Upstairs, Downstairs vision of Partition. The film focuses on the negotiations upstairs between Lord Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy of India, and India’s new political leaders Nehru, Gandhi and Jinnah, whilst interweaving the stories of the local Indians downstairs (their hopes and fears in relation to how these negotiations will impact their own lives).

The combination of British and Indian talent, gave Gurinder the opportunity to make a true-life British historical epic which is both sorrowful and heartwarming. With talented actors such as Hugh Bonneville, Gillian Anderson and Michael Gambon. And she succeeds.

In fact, there is a twist to the story, but you’ll have to watch the film to find out. I suggest that you do so!

THE HITS FOR FILM NERDS

If you’re really into independent or international films, then the following list will please you, and whet your appetite, for good quality film-making.

Films that don’t need to worry about whether the audience will “get it” or appeal to 12 year old boys. In short, intelligent films!

Here goes:

• The Party is a black and white subtly witty comedy replete, with sharp-tongued dialogue, that later veers off into tragedy. Very cleverly made and with a stellar cast.

• Vazante is a black and white film based on 1821 Brazil. It showcases a slave trader who marries a 12 year old girl, which leads to  violence, prejudice, and inevitably, tragedy.

• Menashe is about religion and tradition that determine everyday life in the Orthodox Jewish neighbourhood of Brooklyn. The film is based in part, on the true life story of Menashe Lustig who after his wife dies, is pressured to re-marry as quickly as possible, even though he doesn’t want to! In the vein of a tragi-comedy, he attracts one misfortune after another.

In a way, Menashe is quite funny!

• Casting JonBenet is a sly and stylized exploration of the world’s most sensational child-murder case – the unsolved death of six-year-old American beauty queen – JonBenet Ramsey. After years of media speculation and public fascination, we are presented with a documentary hybrid examining the macabre legacy of the starlet.

• Berlin Syndrome is a film about an Australian backpacker who finds herself in Berlin, meets a friendly English teacher on the street, spends a night with him, and soon finds out that when he goes off to work, she is locked in! Cut off from the rest of the world, Clare experiences terrifying weeks during which she vacillates between yielding to her kidnappers’ obsessions, and continuously trying to escape.

We’ve all seen disturbing psychopathic thrillers before, but they’ve never been about fun-living hedonistic Berlin.

Gulp!

Book your hotel here!

• Animal or Tiere is a film about an Austrian couple who plan to spend a few months in Switzerland. However, on the way to their rented mountain-hill house, they have an accident with some sheep on a country road. This accident initiates a whole series of weird and unsettling experiences for the couple, which ultimately leaves them both incapable of being sure about where exactly where they are: in the real world, or in someone else’s imagination…

Very cleverly done.

• The Other Side of Hope or Toivon tuolla puolen is a film that consists of two stories. The first one is about Khaled, a young Syrian refugee who has lost virtually all of his family, and finds himself as a stowaway passenger in Finland. Wikström, the other protagonist, is a middle-aged travelling salesman. The film is about how they meet, racism, and kindness.

Although based on the serious topic of refugee safety, the film is strangely disturbingly hilarious!

• Grandfather or Aaba is a film about a young girl who lives in the highlands of India. The young girl lives alone with her aged grandparents.

After her grandfather is diagnosed with lung cancer, she watches as he calmly digs his own grave, furnishing it for his comfort in the hereafter with a handful of his worldly possessions. His light-hearted approach to dying is a gentle and laconic acknowledgement of the natural cycle of life and death. But things don’t always go as planned in the land of the living..

A heart-warming, but sad film.

• Lost Child or Xalé Bu Rérr is a film about an innocent young boy from an affluent family, who has the experience of a lifetime. after his first day of school.

The boy’s father fails to pick him up from school, so he simply walks off. Of course, he quickly finds himself lost and wanders through the noise and chaos of the poverty-stricken African city in Senegal. Does he ever find his way home?

Watch it and see!

• In a Nutshell is a short animated film about an attempt to capture the world in a nutshell, through images ranging from a nut seed to war, from a chunk of steak to love, from indifference to apocalypse.

Splendidly presented!

• Promise is a film about a young boy left behind.

Like 60 million other children in China, his parents leave the country to find work elsewhere. Fending for himself in the mountainous countryside, he finds solace in his parents’ promise to return on New Year’s Eve, and in the loyal company of a tame piglet.

With magnificent footage, the film tells the tale of an existence filled with unavoidable adversity.

A heart-breaking film.

FILMS I REALLY, REALLY LIKED!

I’m very into British / Irish, Asian and East European films, as they’re all quite gritty, weird and obscure. This year, I watched quite a few German films. And surprisingly, I liked them!

• TThe Best Of All Worlds or Die beste aller Welten
• 2 Trainspotting
• The Party
• Viceroy’s House
• Becoming Who I Was

• Wallay
• Dream Boat
• Menashe
• Berlin Syndrome
• Casting JonBenet

• Mr. Long
• Vazante
• Vaya
• Bye Bye Germany or Es war einmal in Deutschland…
• The Other Side of Hope or Toivon tuolla puolen

• Stonehead or Shi Tou
• The Tundra Book. A Tale of Vukvukai, the Little Rock or Kniga Tundry. Povest’ o Vukvukaye – Malen’kom Kamne
• Black Head Cow
• Grandfather or Aaba
• The Dress on Her

• Railway Sleepers
• Lost Child or Xalé Bu Rérr
• In a Nutshell
• Promise
• Animals

• God’s Own Country
• Playground or Terrain de jeux

FILMS THAT I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO HAVE SEEN, BUT DIDN’T!

• The Young Karl Marx
• Return to Montauk
• Skins
• Belinda
• From the Balcony

• Final Portrait by Stanley Tucci
• The King’s Choice
• So Long Enthusiasm
• Autumn, Autumn
• Casting

• For Ahkeem
• Motherland
• Spin
• The Welfare of Tomás Ó Hallissy
• Summer 1993

• Freak Show
• On the Road
• Back for Good
• We were kings
• Mikel

• The Grand Budapest Hotel Grand Budapest Hotel
• Last Days in Havana
• Invasion of the Body Snatchers
• At the Fork – Culinary Cinema
• Theater of Life

• Chef’s Table – Tim Raue – Culinary Cinema
• Soul
• Tea Time My Food Is My Home
• Sameblod Sami Blood

FILMS THAT WERE A WASTE OF MY TIME

• The Taste of Betel Nut or Bing Lang Xue: A jerky camera, noise overlay such that you could actually hear the footsteps of the camera person, and a confusing story line such that I spent most of the time falling asleep! Although the sex scenes just about passed muster!

Ahem!

In watching a festival film, you get to see a large variety of international locations and settings, and a better intimate view with acting and scenes, that are much more realistic than in films with a Hollywood budget!

The Berlin International Film Festival, otherwise known as the Berlinale, is a special treat for the public.

See you next year!

This article is not sponsored and even though I received press accredited rates for tickets, all opinions and the impressive festival films that I saw, are my very own!

It’s February!

On 24.02.17 I’ll be going to the first ever blogger event at the  Wintergarten Varieté Berlin on How to be an artist LIKE BERLIN!

On 08.03.17, I’ll be at the iambassador – Traveldudes – ITB Travel Tweet-Up event.

On 08.03.17 – 12.03.17, the world’s largest tourism trade fair – the ITB will be in action, and everyone who is anyone in the travel industry, will be here!

On 15.03.17, I’ll be at the Spring Reception for the British Community at the British Embassy in Berlin.