Rage
With all the excitement at the Baftas and now a real possibility of Brit success at the Oscars grabbing all the headlines it seems that Berlin Film Festival is getting a little bit overlooked. But on the festival's opening weekend the movies are finding it tough.
While The International, the opening film, didn't go down to well with audiences and critics things don't seem to have got any better with Rage and Mammoth all struggling.
Sally Potter has a bit of a reputation of an unorthodox writer and director and her new project Rage is not different, although it is her lowest budget movie to date.
Despite this she has brought together an impressive cast of Dame Judi Dench, Jude Law as you have never seen him before, Dianne Wiest, Steve Buscemi and Eddie Izzard.
Seven days, fourteen characters, a schoolboy and his website. An accident, a murder and a crisis in New York’s fashion industry.
But this impressive ensemble cast is not enough to save the film as it struggled with the critics when it was screened on Saturday night and many viewers left part way through.
It was a similar story for Lukas Moodysson's Mammoth which received an equally frosty reception. Michelle Williams and Gael Garcia Bernal star as Leo and Ellen are a successful New York couple, totally immersed in their work. Leo is the creator of a booming website, and has stumbled into a world of money and big decisions.
Ellen is a dedicated emergency surgeon who devotes her long shifts to saving lives.
Their 8-year old daughter Jackie spends most of her time with her Filipino nanny Gloria, a situation that is making Ellen start to question her priorities.
The documentaries are also causing controversy as two which take a swipe at the international food industry have been met with criticism.
The images of meat packing plants and poultry sheds in Food, Inc. have not been met well and Terra Madre has been criticised for focusing on a farmer who had led a life of agricultural self sufficiency but had died in 2003.
On a more positive note it seems that German made drama Storm, which focuses on the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia is currently the front-runner for the Golden Bear as the gritty drama did well with the critics.
The winner of the Golden Bear is announced 14th February
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Berlin Film Festival