The Berlinale kicked off yesterday with the insubstantial romantic comedy She came to me, by Rebecca Miller. A very weak story about the creative block and the different ways of loving that did not convince the critics displayed in the 73rd edition of the contest. Despite the glamor provided by the cast made up of Anne Hathaway, Marisa Tomei and Peter Dinklage, the seventh film by the American director was too bland for a festival that was highly committed on a political level, both with Ukraine and Iran.
Ukrainian President Zelenski was present via videoconference at the opening gala and asked for the support of artists for his country: "Can art be outside of politics?" he wondered, stating that this issue has become important in recent times. Right now, one year has passed since the Russian invasion of the Ukraine and Sean Penn will premiere his documentary Superpower tomorrow, based on the figure of Zelensky. Similarly, La Sirène, an animated film focused on the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 1980s and screened out of competition in the Panorama section, has already served as a platform for anti-regime protests outside the Berlinale Palast. An overly political environment in which the first films in competition have not stood out either.
From Australia, veteran filmmaker Rolf de Heer takes us to a scenario of an apocalyptic future reminiscent of Mad Max or The Road in The Survival of kindness. A black woman is abandoned in a cage in the middle of a desert. Even that inhospitable place has been left by a group of people with gas masks. She refuses to die there, in full sun, without food or water, and she uses her imagination to escape. But, once outside, the panorama is even more bleak. She runs into corpses, people who ignore her and manages to exchange clothes and shoes with some of those ghost-like beings.
What has happened? It is completely unknown. De Heer leaves us with the unknown and the portrait of a world where racism reigns and it is better to be dead than alive. There are practically no dialogues, and the few that are heard are not understood by anyone. A completely pessimistic vision, although with a final message to reflect on that could strike a chord with the jury in these delicate times.
Nothing to do with the torment of the German film Someday we'll tell each other everything, by Emily Atef, the same one who signed the drama More than ever last year with Vicky Krieps and Gaspard Ulliel. The director embarks on a two-way love story starring a 19-year-old girl in Germany at the beginning of the 90s. María is a young woman who lives with her boyfriend on his parents' farm. She spends the day with a book in her hands and goes to school. She seems happy at the house of her partner, a boy who adores her and aspires to study photography. However, one day she meets a lonely 40-year-old neighbor and begins a crude and ruthless sexual relationship. But she likes it. What are you going to do!. Laughter was even heard during the press pass in some 'serious' scenes. To blush. As said, more than two hours of boring and nondescript footage that contributes absolutely nothing more than asking why something like this is in the official section.
And the third in contention comes from the hand of the Canadian Matt Johnson with Blackberry, which shows the rise and fall of the famous and addictive mobile phone that changed the way the world worked, played and communicated. The film tells how Mike Lazaridis and entrepreneur Jim Balsillie managed to make the device a worldwide success until it was lost in the fog of the smartphone wars and disappeared with its subsequent bankruptcy. The film is followed with some interest, but it is still a typical story to spend a Sunday afternoon. Not to compete in an international film competition.
