02/22/08
Text: A. J. Goldmann
After ten high-strung days in the chilly German capital, the 58th Berlin International Film Festival wrapped up last Sunday. One of Europe’s three oldest and most important film events, the Berlinale is famous for being highly political, and it also attracts a much larger viewing public than Venice or Cannes. This year’s lineup brought many big stars to Berlin--Julia Roberts, Penelope Cruz, Scarlett Johansson—and the festival director opted for a rock ‘n’ roll theme that attracted the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Neil Young and Patti Smith.
The only obvious favorite in competition was Paul Thomas Anderson’s breathtaking There Will Be Blood, which was seen here in its international premiere. The international festival jury, headed this year by the French director Costa-Gavras, for the most part resisted the obvious choices and preferred to share the wealth.
Blood only received the laurel for Best Director and a special award for the film’s composer, Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood. The jury’s other choices seemed tentative and haphazard. Best screenplay honors went to the minor Chinese melodrama In Love We Trust, about an estranged couple brought back together after their daughter is diagnosed with leukemia. The Golden Bear for best picture went to the Brazilian political thriller The Elite Squad, a film that sharply divided critics.
On the other hand, it seemed perfectly forgivable that the jury passed up Daniel Day Lewis (who will in all probability take home an Oscar in any case) and honored instead the Iranian actor Reja Najie for Majid Majidi’s film Song of a Sparrow. And I was most pleased to see best actress go to Sally Hawkins, for her breakthrough performance in Mike Leigh’s utterly delightful Happy Go Lucky, one of the best films in a festival with little that was genuinely new to offer.
