AwardsWatch - Film Reviews

2018 Berlin Film Festival Review: the indulgent misfire ‘My Brother’s Name is Robert and He is an Idiot’

Erik Anderson February 21, 2018

Synopsis: Robert and Elena are two siblings living in a remote rural area. Elena is about to take her final exam when the two decide... Read More

2018 Berlin Film Festival Review: an original and unorthodox look at Iranian cinema in ‘Pig (Khook)’

Erik Anderson February 21, 2018

Synopsis: A blacklisted Iranian director is alarmed when several filmmakers are murdered around the country. He’s alarmed not only because of the murders – but... Read More

2018 Berlin Film Festival Review: Gus Van Sant’s ‘Don’t Worry He Won’t Go Far On Foot’

Erik Anderson February 20, 2018

Synopsis: The story of American cartoonist John Callahan whose alcoholism led him to a permeant physical impairment and a career in satirical cartoons. Gus Van... Read More

2018 Berlin Film Festival: Emily Atef’s triumphant and poignant ‘3 Days in Quiberon’

Erik Anderson February 19, 2018

Synopsis: Over the course of 3 days, late German actress Romy Schneider is interviewed in a hotel in France. Surrounding her are a journalist, her... Read More

2018 Berlin Film Festival Review: Eric Poppe’s haunting and audacious ‘U – JULY 22’

Erik Anderson February 19, 2018

Synopsis: On July 22, 2011, a right-wing extremist murdered over 77 young men and woman on Utoya island in Norway. This is a re-telling of... Read More

2018 Berlin Film Festival Review: ‘The Real Estate’

Erik Anderson February 19, 2018

Synopsis: A Swedish woman returns to her home country after living 25 years abroad. She inherits a large building with an entire floor that’s occupied... Read More

2018 Berlin Film Festival Review: Laura Bispuri’s powerful and affecting ‘Daughter of Mine’

Erik Anderson February 18, 2018

Synopsis: A drama centered on a girl who is living a seemingly happy life with her parents who raised her only to then find herself... Read More

2018 Berlin Film Festival Review: Cedric Kahn’s superbly acted and engaging ‘The Prayer’

Erik Anderson February 18, 2018

Synopsis: A heroin addict enters a religious rehabilitation center far in the mountains in hopes of liberating himself from addiction. There he experiences religion, friendship... Read More

2018 Berlin Film Festival Review: Benoît Jacquot’s ‘Eva’ starring Gaspard Ulliel and Isabelle Huppert is contrived and unconvincing

Erik Anderson February 17, 2018

Synopsis: A playwright encounters a mysterious woman when he takes shelter in a chalet during a violent snowstorm. Benoît Jacquot’s EVA is a revenge thriller that... Read More

2018 Berlin Film Festival Review: Christian Petzold’s ‘Transit’

Erik Anderson February 17, 2018

Synopsis: When a man flees France after the Nazi invasion, he assumes the identity of a dead author whose papers he possesses. Stuck in Marseilles, he... Read More