EXBERLINER Issue 148 April 2016

GERMANY’S
FIRST IMAX ®
LASER PROJECTION
ON BERLIN’S BIGGEST SCREEN
STARTS APR 14
Hardcore
(Hardcore Henry) D: Ilya Naishuller (Russia,
USA 2015) with Sharlto Copley, Haley
Bennett ◆◆ It takes tremendous
skill and unimaginable discipline
to shoot a full-blown sci-fi actioner
using only the first-person POV. No
action/reaction, no multi-cam or
pull-back shots - and no lead performance
either, since we don’t get
to see the hero at all. For that reason
alone, Hardcore – seen entirely
through the eyes of its mute protagonist,
whose face is but briefly
betrayed in reflection towards the
end – never ceases to impress.
Whether this directorial choice is
as meaningful as it is unquestionably
ballsy, however, would depend
on who you ask. Genre fans looking
for kinks will derive great pleasure
from an uncommonly immediate
experience that turns the viewer
into the shooter, stabber, chaser or
dodger in a prolonged and extreme
splatter-fest. We wake up with (or
as) the amnesiac, voiceless Henry
(no actor credited) in a lab, and find
ourselves caught in the crossfire
between an evil Russian kingpin
with ESP and a reclusive, self-multiplying
scientist. Carnage ensues.
Featuring sharp choreography
and some truly stupendous camera
work, the “how-did-they-do-that”
factor of the film is high. That
said, the trick does get old and
the unshakable sense of videogame
superficiality is damning.
It’s a blast for sure, but also total
sensory overkill. ZS
NEW
STARTS APR 14
The Lady in the Van
D: Nicholas Hytner (UK 2015) with Maggie
Smith, Alex Jennings ◆◆◆ What
if Maggie Smith’s Countess of
Grantham had ended up as a cantankerous
bag lady? Based on Alan
Bennett’s memoir and stage play,
The Lady in the Van answers this
question by telling the “mostly true
story” of Miss Shepherd (Smith),
who is temporarily invited to park
her van on Bennett’s (Jennings)
London driveway in 1973. Her stay
ends up lasting 15 years, with the
playwright and the bigoted squatter
developing an unlikely friendship.
The charming odd-couple premise
might set off alarm bells, but
Hytner’s adaptation strikes the right
balance between the wryly comedic
and the poignant. The director relies
on the meta but never crosses into
the cloyingly self-reflexive, and any
smugness is circumvented by the
surreal doppelganger division of the
real Bennett (“you live life”) and the
writer Bennett (“I’ll write about it”).
This balancing act is further exemplified
by the two leads, especially
Smith, who never descends into
parody. You’d expect only greatness
from the actress, but her irascibly
eccentric performance is funny,
affecting and truly memorable. The
big-hearted film’s occasional lack of
focus is eclipsed by the performances
and insights into British
middle-class guilt and an artist’s
search for a subject. DM
FROM APRIL 14 TH
SWIM IN ENDLESS COLORS
REVEL IN
SOUL-STIRRING SOUND
Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz | More info at cinestar-imax.de
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