Manufacturing Mystery

WHAT’S ON — Film Manufacturing mystery Editor’s Choice The auteurs behind three of this month’s new releases revel in keeping the viewer on the back foot. By Paul O’Callaghan DON’T MISS KuirFest Berlin or its first half or so, High Life While Denis’ film is challenging by Happily, there’s one confounding Conceived to (photo), the English-language multiplex standards, it looks like a arthouse drama out this month that protest the ‘indefinite ban’ on F debut by French auteur Claire Marvel movie next to Sunset, László totally sticks the landing. Adapted LGBTQ+ events Denis, is an assured piece of enig- Nemes’ follow-up to his Oscar-win- from a Haruki Murakami short in Ankara, this fest matic nonlinear storytelling. It stars ning Holocaust drama Son of Saul. story, Lee Chang-dong’s Burning kicked off in May but concludes Robert Pattinson as Monte, a taci- Set in Budapest on the eve of World centres around Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in), with a screening turn father raising his baby daughter War I, it follows the determined Írisz an aspiring writer from the sticks of Lizzie Borden’s in testing circumstances – the pair (Juli Jakab) on her quest to reclaim now living in Seoul, who becomes 1983 queer-feminist classic Born in are the sole inhabitants of a dilapi- her rightful place in society, decades embroiled in a love triangle of sorts Flames at bi’bak, dated spaceship hurtling towards after her parents, the founders of a with his former classmate Hae- followed by a a black hole. Denis is in no rush to prestigious hat shop, perished in a mi (Jong-seo Jun) and her suave, party at Raum- explain how they ended up in this fire. The director employs many of wealthy friend Ben (Steven Yeun). erweiterungshalle. Jun 7 position, but through flashbacks we the techniques he used to evoke the Though superficially jovial, the trio’s learn that Monte was once accompa- horrors of Auschwitz – long takes, interactions are profoundly uncom- Female Filmmakers nied on the vessel by a rag-tag crew lingering close-ups, shallow focus fortable to observe, with Jong-su Festival Berlin This inaugural of criminals, led by the eccentric Dr – to tell a more intricate story. The clearly consumed by class con- edition takes over Dibs (Juliette Binoche), who har- effect is initially mesmerising: the sciousness and youthful insecurity. Moviemento for five bours an all-consuming obsession opening sequence simply documents And then one day Hae-mi drops out days of female- driven films and with artificial insemination. For a Írisz’ attempt to get a job in her par- of the tentative ménage à trois she video art, plus while, the film strikes a deft balance ents’ shop, but it’s utterly immersive instigated, leaving the two men awk- networking events between moody introspection and and strangely tense, with a clear wardly sizing each other up. There and a panel genre thrills, as Denis weaves a com- sense that something sinister lurks are direct references to The Great discussion about women in VR and pelling tale with minimal exposition. beneath the city’s elegant facade. Gatsby, and shades of American Psy- video games. And a sequence in which Binoche Alas, as Írisz struggles to make sense cho in the depiction of Ben, but this Jun 13-17 pleasures herself in a retrofuturis- of her family’s murky history, Nemes minimalist thriller is so meticulously Exblicks: The Good tic “fuckbox” is glorious, charging is a little too effective at mirroring constructed and relentlessly rivet- Change: Poles Apart subsequent scenes with a palpable her state of perpetual confusion, and ing, it transcends its influences to Join us at Lichtblick sense of yearning. But ultimately, the film becomes too muddled and stand on its own feet as a masterly Kino for a special screening of this High Life is too beholden to the sci-fi disorienting for its own good. exploration of fragile masculinity. T riveting doc about classics that inspired it. With Earth- right-wing populism set vignettes that look like deleted in Poland, presented as a double-bill with scenes from Tarkovsky’s Stalker, and High Life Starts May 30 D: Claire Denis (France, Germany, UK, the short Three a climax that’s heavily indebted to Poland, US 2018) with Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche | Burning Days in Berlin, Kubrick’s 2001, it fails to establish a Starts Jun 6 D: Lee Chang-dong (South Korea 2018) with Yoo which tackles the visual language of its own, and winds Ah-in, Stephen Yeun | Sunset Starts Jun 13 D: László Nemes equally thorny topic of abortion. up feeling like less than the sum of (Hungary 2018) with Juli Jakab, Vlad Ivanov Jul 1 its parts. 22 EXBERLINER 183.

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