the berlinale films (only a few)

‘word is out’ - landmark documentary about being gay in the 1970s in america. 20 or so gay men and women speak about sexuality, confusions, identity, homophobia and love. ‘imani’ – 3 stories set in kampala that have no relationship with one another- like a sketch of class in contemporary uganda. one story of a boy who is separated from his parents in war and returns a little distanced finding solace in his notepad; a maid in a rich mans mansion finds a way to make some money for her sister arrested by the police,; and in a slum an encounter between a reformed criminal and his childhood friend over the stolen equipment of a dance show. nice. ‘so goes my love’: 1930s japan. another devoted wife this time living apart from the family because they disapprove of her. a friendship develops between her and the sister of the household and all ends well. really fast. charming and easy. ‘sunny land’ a so-profound documentary about ‘sun city’ in south africa and apartheid. it tries too much with too little material. long still shots of the architecture is intercut with found footage about the developer owner and a strange love story between a hans and a local man. pretentious i thought. ‘the sun’ shows everyone how films are to be made. sokurov follows emperor hirohito as he gives up his divinity and embraces being human in the bunker below his mansion. terrific- funny and sad. ‘our fantastic 21^st century’- the title is meant to be ironic (surprise!) disenchanted youth fascinated by beauty, youth and money forget themselves in lives of crime and simulations of love. a girl steals for plastic surgery after her boyfriend robs her of her savings; meanwhile another young man kills over his share of loot. ‘a crowd of three’ also wants to speak of a similar group of wandering aimless young men who undertake a journey to find a brother who is in jail across japan. it goes nowhere fast even as they are joined by a annoyingly dumb girl on the way. it ends with a pointless suicide pact between the two boys. some sort of sexual tension between the two boys is obliquely referenced - as perhaps the ‘reason’? ‘the day of the sparrow’ is philips meditative take on bird watching and the afghanistan war. somehow the relationship between watching the wild, controlling it and classifying it stands in an odd juxtaposition with germany’s involvement with a faraway war that is completely invisible in the landscape otherwise. the screening of ‘open’ the fairly good transgendered love story started off with two really awful films by james franco- of spider man fame. he was there and i still don’t know how he managed to stand by those pretentious terrible films ‘inspired by’ some poetry. one about a murderer and the other where a boy enjoys being abused by his friends. open’ followed two relationships- one between two men who are slowly transforming themselves into the same woman; and another between a gay man and a woman who is now a man through a process of ‘gender reassignment’. what redeemed what could have been a particularly scandalous film was the warmth and the frankness with which it treated its protagonists. ‘repulsion’ could not have been more misogynistic or homophobic. the murdering woman child might be in love with her sister and kills almost every man who comes close to her while going steadily mad. the sad pseudo-freudian analysis that blames her state on child abuse was pathetic. but what a fabulously made film. the apartment prison that attacks her with its sudden protuberances, the view of the nunnery. the symbols are heavy handed but so effective. and catherine deneuve plays the child woman with great enthusiasm as she kills her suitors.

some short films too- sharon lockhardt was discovered as she gazed on and on at a woman picking something in complete silence in a marsh. there is only so much of that i could take.