MAYER WAKEFIELD has reservations about the direction of a play centered on a DVLA re-training session for three British-Pakistani motorists
The good, the bad and the indifferent
RITA DI SANTO reports from the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival
https://youtu.be/jXT79elePek
New releases from Steve Knightley, Jupiter & Okwess, Jason Palmer, Lisa Knapp and Gerry Driver, Kin'Gongolo Kiniata, Ingrid Laubrock/Tom Rainey, Dan Sealey, Simin Tande, PAZ
JOHN GREEN relishes photography that unfolds a longstanding and poetic relationship with Leeds
A uncomfortably misogynistic authorial voice that sometimes seems to lack insight troubles FIONA O’CONNOR
MARY CONWAY is disappointed by a production that panders – if inadvertently – to Western prejudice against China
JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a history that excavates the enormous role played by agricultural workers in recent times
ALEX HALL recommends a book that places empirical evidence at the heart of understanding racism
ISRAELI director Nadav Lapid’s Synonyms won the top award at this year’s Berlinale on Saturday. Synonyms follows an ex-Israeli soldier who rejects his nationality as he moves to France to start a new life and find his true identity.
Shaking the boundaries of storytelling, with a sharp sense of humour and a subtle political message, it is a startlingly original anti-war movie that could be considered controversial, even “scandalous” in Israel and France as it courageously skewers stereotypes prevailing in both nations.
The Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize went to Francois Ozon’s By the Grace of God, a fact-based account of the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal behind the ongoing trial of Philippe Barbarin, the archbishop of Lyon.
Ozon goes beyond the newspaper headlines and magnificently brings the reality of the scandal back to life. It is a film which stays with you — one of the many joys of a film which conceals rewarding depths beneath its surface.
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