Lukas Dhont’s follow up to Close (2022) is a touching tale of art-making during war, touching on themes of sexuality, fantasy and the harshness of reality.
Theatre at War
Ariadne Si Suo
Ariadne is a film writer specialising in sensory and arthouse cinema.
The Kieślowski Universe
Asghar Farhadi’s Parallel Tales has been critically panned, but our reviewer found its tribute to the work of Kieślowski remarkably touching.
Her Private Hell? Absent Parents.
Told with his usual neon-heavy aesthetic, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell is a beguiling tale of absent parenthood, playing Out of Competition.
Avedon. Imagination and Reality.
Ron Howard’s tribute to Richard Avedon is a faithful exploration of how the famed photographer invented reality with his imaginative photographs.
Dreams (Sex Love). Writing vs. Living
An unrequited love story powers Dreams, the final installment in Dag Johan Haugerud’s powerful Sex Love trilogy, playing in Competition.
He Just Felt Like Doing It
What Does that Nature Say to You, the latest film from Hong Sangsoo, is another poetic slice of life gem about what constitutes a good life.
Blue Moon. Drunk With Beauty.
Set entirely on the opening night of Oklahoma!, Richard Linklater’s talky film Blue Moon reunites him with Before trilogy star Ethan Hawke.
Never Trust Guys Called Homer
A trip to a trauma retreat turns increasingly nightmarish in Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli’s Honey Bunch, playing in Berlinale Special.
Flying on A Wire is Not Real Flying
Vivian Qu’s gritty crime story Girls on Wire is a grim tale about the inevitability of fate that is weighed down by clichéd and stilted storytelling.