Berlin / III

The Belinale is over and it seemed, for me at least, to more or less stagger to a close and collapse more than anything else. The best films I saw (other than Errol Morris’ mid-week Standard Operating Procedure) were in the first few days and I was actually stunned by a few of the films I saw in the Panorama wondering if I hadn’t wandered into the market instead, And, getting back to SOP, I had dinner with some friends the night I saw it and four of them, three German and one American, walked out of the screening they disliked it so much. Some criticized the reenactments, some the Danny Elfman score. For me, it was probably the best thing I saw here (although I did not see the Mike Leigh comedy which I’ve heard nothing but good things about.)

There had been a lot of talk about the vitality and viability of the Berlin program leading up to the festival this year—obvious comparisons were made between it and the other large, old European festivals, Cannes and Venice—and the release this week of some of the titles premiering in Cannes in a couple of months definitely made the Berlin festival look, well…let’s just say not very exciting.

Wrapping things up, however, with the awards…

José Padilha’s Brazillian film The Elite Squad won the Golden Bear for Best Film. I didn’t see the film, mostly because the reviews were so mixed, leaning towards bad, but I suppose if it turns up in Cannes I’ll check it out.

Erroll Morris’ Standard Operating Procedure won the Silver Bear – The Jury Grand Prix

Paul Thomas Anderson won the Silver Bear for Best Director for There Will Be Blood

Sally Hawkins won the Silver Bear for Best Actress for her role in Mike Leigh’s Happy-Go-Lucky

Reza Najie won the Silver Bear for Best Actor for his role in Majid Majidi’s The Song of Sparrows

Eran Riklis’ The Lemon Tree won the Panorama Audience Award