and a Need For Speed: Undercover game, director Dante Lam does an impressive job in bringing depth to multiple characters whilst maintaining a strong (sometimes over-complex) narrative with great tension, impressive set-pieces, and a scene involving machetes that would have Robert Rodriguez squinting. Although not a fan of 3D, I reluctantly purchased a ticket to British director Gareth Maxwell Robert’s adult 3D thriller The Mortician (2011). Sadly the film started forty minutes late and although I was begrudgingly impressed with the depth of field used within the 3D element, an hour of watching Method Man slug about as some timid loner mortician amongst a backdrop of gang culture clichés with nods
“It’s safe to say that 96 minutes of The Seventh Seal (1957) firmly restored my faith in not only cinema, but Berlinale itself.” to notions of film noir, I left the theatre. The only time I have walked out of a film... ever. It wasn’t just the film that led me to commit this cinematic crime but the fact I had to catch another screening, one I knew I couldn’t afford to miss. It’s safe to say that 96 minutes of The Seventh Seal (1957) firmly restored my faith in not only cinema, but Berlinale itself. Victoria Mahoney’s directorial debut Yelling to the Sky, tells the story of a teenage girl struggling for self-identity amongst a desolate suburban landscape. Filled with gang culture, discrimination, drug addiction
and abusive, broken families, the film echoes the likes of Fish Tank, Precious and Thirteen. Sadly the film’s strong opening act never fully delves into the depths of teenage anxiety as successfully as the aforementioned comparisions.Although not wholly original,Yelling to the Sky produces some wonderful displays of acting, including lead character Sweetness (played by Lenny Kravitz’ daughter Zoe Kravitz) as well as lead ‘The Roots’ vocalist Tariq Trotter (aka Black Thought). Mahoney’s subtlety behind the camera and her stylistic use of editing, mise-en-scene and sound suggests a bright future for the former actress. Berlinale always seems to save the best till last and I was fortunate to spend my final evening at the European premiere of John Michael McDonaugh’s upcoming film The Guard. Anyone familiar with McDonaugh’s themes of culture class comedy (he previously made In Bruges) will appreciate the sheer delight he has in offending every stereotype going. As always McDonaugh’s razor-sharp script pokes fun at every topic possible, from religion to race to prostitution. 90 minutes breezed by; in all honesty I missed half the jokes from the sheer volume of laughter, although the Germans DO laugh at everything. Director and cast mingled with spectators postscreening and I managed to speak with Mark Strong himself, where I asked him his thoughts on the recent cuts to the UK Film Council, in which a “bloody government” response, was refreshingly human. And that’s why I like Berlinale, everyone seems equal, for all the flashes of press and glamourised sponsors lurking in the background, there’s an honesty and warmth to embrace film as art; to be shared and discussed; not just as a vehicle for celebrity and meaningless consumption.
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