On February 14, local time, the Berlin Film Festival entered the sixth competition day schedule. In the main competition section of the day, three films were released: "The Other Side of Hope", "Boyce" and "The Midwife", which did not participate in the award competition. The Other Side of Hope is from the famous Finnish director Aki Kolysmaki, while Boyce is a documentary. Therefore, in Berlin on that day, the genre of the film was quite rich.
"The Midwife" is a bit old-fashioned, but the evaluation is acceptable
The director of "The Midwife", Martin Bovos, is extremely good at shaping female characters, and his 2008 "Serafina" is represented in this. "The Midwife", which appeared in Berlin that day, is not a film about the work of a midwife, but a film about a midwife who spends time with his father's lover after losing his job. The whole film is full of contradictions between two strong women, and under the appearance of two outstanding actresses, Catherine Denaf and Catherine Flo, it is full of French style.
In particular, Catherine Deneuve plays Patrick, a bohemian woman who dresses up every day, while Catherine Flo plays Claire, who is relatively conservative and old-fashioned. The two are quite interesting in comparison. Although the film is a bit old-fashioned, it has received good reviews in the media. "Daily Screen": "Although it is a predictable story, Martin Bovos's tuning and script writing are still a pleasure. ”
Boyce uses a conceptual approach to the methodology of making art, and the media controversy is strong
The German film Boyce comes from the prestigious German documentary filmmaker Andrés Vanier. For a long time, he set his sights on the art and political circles. Over time, his work has developed a character that places the individual in discussion in contemporary society. At the same time, his films often have a diverse set of perspectives, rather than a fixed one, which makes him the most socially insightful director in contemporary Germany.
This time he brought "Boyce" is such a movie. Joseph Beuys is a well-known German artist whose main form of work is sculpture. He was an artist who enjoyed the perfect reputation as a political prophet in the seventies. As a sculptor, practicing artist, "religious head" and fantasist, he became the most influential figure in the postmodernist European art world.
At a young age, Boyce followed Hitler and participated in World War II. During World War II, he became a combat hero first, and then was stripped of a large number of medals for his lack of discipline. After World War II, he entered the Academy of Fine Arts and indeed created the conceptual art "Social Sculpture", which was different and guided the direction of later artistic action. Subsequently, he carried forward this concept and used strange materials to produce the famous "Grease Chair", "Pack Bag", "Auschwitz Holy Bone Box" and other works, becoming a first-class artist in Europe.
In the film, Andrés Vanir uses a large number of unpublished video materials to let Boyce speak for himself, telling about his creations and art. Using these materials, Andrés Vanier also opened a door to the artist's spiritual field and the art world. Conceptuality, the most important and crucial content of the film, explains a methodology for "manufacturing art".
In the film, Andrés Vanir abandons the story of Boyce's turbulent life and instead uses an "artistic ontology" approach, opening up another possibility of interpreting the artist. Of course, this kind of directing method, which seems to be quite "loud and loud", is controversial in the comments. The Hollywood Reporter commented: "The film doesn't seem to have a fixed direction or a fixed goal. The Daily Screen said: "After three years of production, this documentary expresses the source of Boyce's inexhaustible creative motivation and reveals the flow and law in artistic creation."
Kaurismäki's new work "The Other Side of Hope" has a general reputation in Berlin
"The Other Side of Hope" comes from the famous director Kaurismäki. The director has always used the lives of lower-class people as a shooting material, and this time is no exception. It is worth mentioning that Kaurismäki has been to the Berlin Film Festival three times, but has never won in the main competition section. The Other Side of Hope consists of two short stories that begin to intersect as the film progresses to 40 minutes. The first story tells the story of a man named Khahd. He was a Syrian refugee smuggled into Helsinki by a coal-carrying boat and left behind in a local shelter with little hope for the future.
The protagonist of the second story is vickstrom, who was originally a businessman but made a fortune at the gambling table. Now runs a restaurant. Khahd was turned away by the Finnish government and did not obtain legal status. In desperation, he "blackened" in Helsinki, living in various parks and sewers, suffering all kinds of insults and unbearable. Luckily, he got a lot of friendships. One day, Vickstrom found Khahd sleeping near his hotel and offered him a bed and a job. It was then that it became apparent that Khahd was not the only unidentified refugee that Vickstrom had rescued...
In terms of length, the 98-minute "The Other Side of Hope" is not a feature of Kaurismäki, and most of his films are around 70 minutes. From the perspective of story structure, the two-part story is also the most radical of Kaurismäki's many films. However, the whole film is still full of Kaurismäki's style: the people at the bottom, the miserable life, the shackles and constraints of fate, and so on. However, the tone of the film is still positive, and people are constantly working hard to make this society a better – and should be a better place.
"Daily Screen" said: "Still a feature of Kaurismäki, still the style of Kaurismaki" Variety Magazine said: "Kaurismäcky made a 1990s Jim Jarmusch film in this era. The rapid decline in topics and elements does not obscure their outdated substance." The Hollywood Reporter said: "This is a comedy with laughter in tears, and it is touching that impossible friendships happen." It seems like this is an end point that must be reached."
Xie Tian's short film "Promise" was screened in the New Generation unit
In terms of non-competition units, Xie Tian's short film "Commitment" was screened in the new generation unit. This 17-minute short film still tells a story about left-behind children. Unlike many films of the same genre, The Promise is about the difficult choices of left-behind children themselves. His parents were not there, he had been living with a piglet, and when his parents returned, he promised to make a sumptuous dinner, so he was caught in a dilemma.