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Berlin (dpa) - Some speak of the «Sofa Berlinale».
The cinemas are still closed and the film festival had to go online.
This Friday it will be announced which film will win the highest award.
It is quite possible that the jury will award one of the important prizes to Germany.
But international competition is tough.
Fast forward to the Berlinale, please.
The tragic comedy “Ich bin dein Mensch”, Maria Schrader’s third film director, was convincing.
The story about a scientist who lives for a few days with a humanoid robot for an experiment and falls in love with him develops ever greater tension from scene to scene and is captivating until the amazing finale.
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“Next door”, the directorial debut of the actor Daniel Brühl, paints a multifaceted picture of the German present between rich and poor, east and west, a sense of social responsibility and pure selfishness.
The story about a successful actor, whose life is turned upside down by a neighbor, is convincing as an atmospheric psychological thriller and as a social study.
"Fabian or The Walk to the Dogs", the film adaptation of the novel by Erich Kästner by director Dominik Graf, reflects life in Berlin in 1931 against the background of the rising National Socialism and thus aims at the present.
Because the story of the German scholar Jakob Fabian illuminates the fragility of democracy itself in effective visual language.
The documentary “Herr Bachmann und seine Klasse” by director Maria Speth shows the everyday life of an inclusive class at a school in a small town for months.
Your teacher tries to accommodate everyone.
The film is impressive as a plea for humanity.
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The artistic director Carlo Chatrian had already said in advance of the selection that German cinema would be strong this time.
«Last year we had two German films in the competition.
And some journalists said there were too few.
And this time there are four and, from the point of view of some journalists, too many, ”he said.
In his own words, Chatrian wants to choose the films that are best for the competition.
His selection in the second year again reflects a preference for artful films, the so-called arthouse cinema.
A total of 15 films are in the running - and many of the filmmakers ask the big questions in life.
"What do we see when we look at the sky?"
For example, a film by Georgian Alexandre Koberidze, who studied at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin, tells a love story with images full of breadth and originality.
Not only does it show how important cream cakes can be in life.
It proves the importance of recognizing and embracing moments of happiness.
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Koberidze's film falls outside the scope of the competition.
On the one hand, because he doesn't tell in the style of a chamber play like others, but with pathos.
On the other hand, because he relies on the power of love.
Similar in attitude is “Petite Maman” by the French Céline Sciamma, the affectionate portrait of a mother-daughter relationship.
Her last film about a love affair between two women, «Portrait of a Young Woman in Flames», was so attentive.
Often, however, the films in the competition show a world out of joint.
In “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” by the Romanian Radu Jude, a teacher unintentionally becomes an internet star because amateur porn ends up there with her.
The school calls a meeting with the parents - what follows is like a tribunal.
«Memory Box» by the artist duo Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige deals with the Lebanese civil war.
«Albatros» by the French Xavier Beauvois portrays a police officer in a crisis.
The Iranian contribution "Ballad of a White Cow" deals with the consequences of the death penalty.
And in “Introduction” the South Korean Hong Sangsoo shows people who talk to each other but have nothing to say and don't listen to each other.
They are films that denounce greed for profit, intolerance and loneliness.
What is missing this time is not just US filmmakers in the competition.
It's also the big debates that open up when the audience comes out of the cinema.
For example about Christian Schwochow's drama “Je suis Karl” or a documentary about singer Tina Turner.
This should be made up for in the summer.
In addition to cinema art, glamor is also part of the Berlinale.
Hollywood is missing so far.
It is to be hoped that this is solely due to the pandemic.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210304-99-686438 / 3
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