Berlin film festival 2019
Berlinale 2019 roundup – from bad to wurst
Traditionally, the Berlinale is a worthy if unspectacular film festival, but this year’s offerings largely range from the hapless to the tasteless
Jonathan Romney
16, Feb, 2019 @3:00 PM
Piranhas review – Neapolitan gangster-kids drama lacks bite
This boisterous adaptation of Roberto ‘Gomorrah’ Saviano’s novel about young mobsters is watchable but too smooth
Peter Bradshaw
14, Feb, 2019 @4:34 PM
Elisa y Marcela review – same-sex marriage drained of passion
Isabel Coixet transforms the real-life story of two Spanish women who married in 1901 into a bafflingly joyless affair
Peter Bradshaw
14, Feb, 2019 @9:47 AM
Varda by Agnès review – two hours of magic with the veteran director
The French auteur exudes enigmatic godmotherly wisdom as she reflects on her life behind the camera and turns the lens on herself
Peter Bradshaw
13, Feb, 2019 @3:15 PM
Monos review – Apocalypse Now on shrooms
Chaos intensifies in Alejandro Landes’s deeply mad thriller about a wild cult of teenage bandits who have rituals, guns and a hostage – but no Kurtz
Peter Bradshaw
13, Feb, 2019 @2:19 PM
I Was at Home, But review – breakdown on the verge of coherence
The anger of this opaque film’s heroine, faced with a runaway son and a broken bicycle, is not explained by its disconnected scenes and incongruous donkeys
Peter Bradshaw
12, Feb, 2019 @3:30 PM
The Shadow Play review – money worship and gangster capitalism in China
Director Lou Ye’s intriguing but exasperating drama focuses on criminal undertakings with overblown results
Peter Bradshaw
12, Feb, 2019 @10:53 AM
Gully Boy review – shy rapper from the slums is breakout star
This drama about a likable lad from Mumbai who dreams of hip-hop stardom teeters cheerfully on the edge of camp
Peter Bradshaw
11, Feb, 2019 @2:23 PM
Watergate review – why the grisliest true crime ever still resonates
Charles Ferguson’s riveting four-hour documentary picks over Nixon’s squalid and pointless burglary – and the lessons still to be learned
Peter Bradshaw
11, Feb, 2019 @2:00 PM
Mr Jones review – newsman's heroic journey into a Soviet nightmare
Agnieszka Holland’s powerful drama stars James Norton as the real-life Welsh journalist who uncovered Stalin’s genocidal famine in Ukraine
Peter Bradshaw
11, Feb, 2019 @11:07 AM
The Operative review – deep-cover spy thriller that forgets the thrills
Martin Freeman plays a Mossad agent who recruits Diane Kruger’s newbie to go undercover in Iran – but the resulting film is an unexciting mess
Peter Bradshaw
10, Feb, 2019 @6:15 PM
God Exists, Her Name Is Petrunya review – asks big questions, doesn't answer them
Despite a fine lead performance, this promising satire about religion and society in Macedonia fails to carry through on its interesting setup
Peter Bradshaw
10, Feb, 2019 @3:30 PM
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