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WHAT’S ON — Film Editor’s Choice Growing pains The road to adulthood is littered with perilous obstacles in three of this month’s releases. By Paul O’Callaghan DON’T MISS Iranian Film Festival Hackesche Höfe Kino offers a fivenight crash course in contemporary Iranian cinema, with highlights including Shahram Mokri’s mind-bending post-apocalyptic murder mystery Invasion. Through Jun 3 Anna May Wong Arsenal Kino celebrates Hollywood’s most iconic actress of Chinese descent, with a retrospective featuring pre- Code classics like Josef von Sternberg’s Shanghai Express. Jun 1-29 EXBlicks: Nico, 1988 Join us at Lichtblick Kino for an exclusive sneak peek at this acclaimed new biopic of the captivating Velvet Underground chanteuse, in the presence of director Susanna Nicchiarelli. Jun 12 Greg Berlanti’s Love, Simon (photo) lands on German shores established as one of the year’s most heartening Hollywood success stories. Based on Becky Albertalli’s 2015 YA novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, this breezy rom-com breaks new ground as the first studio teen movie to feature a gay protagonist. At the US box office, it swiftly outgrossed queer-themed critical darlings like Moonlight and Call Me by Your Name thanks to a wide release and stellar word-of-mouth. The key to its mainstream appeal undeniably lies in the balance it strikes between frankness and coyness. The film evokes a vivid sense of both the thrill of first love and the emotional turmoil of coming out, whilst steering well clear of eroticism – this may be the most chaste depiction of same-sex desire in screen history. But while this Disney-esque approach has rankled some queer commentators, director Greg Berlanti’s intention is clearly a noble one: to provide LGBTQ+ kids with the kind of life-affirming coming-of-age narrative that their straight counterparts have been happily consuming for decades. Only a smattering of subpar gags prevents this from claiming a place alongside Clueless and Mean Girls in the upper eche-lons of the teen movie pantheon. Puppy-eyed Simon (Nick Robinson) may suffer his share of anguish, but his life is positively peachy compared to that of Peter Graham (Alex Wolff), the tormented teen at the heart of Ari Aster’s relentless debut feature Hereditary. One of its great strengths is its slyly unpredictable first act, so I’ll keep things vague here. Suffice to say, the death of their matriarch takes an unimaginable toll on each member of the Graham clan, with Peter’s mother Annie (Toni Collette) and his maladjusted young sister Charlie (Milly Shapiro) left particularly grief-stricken. In the long run, however, it’s Peter who must bear the bulk of the family burden. For the most part, Hereditary is a slow-burning but utterly gripping study of grief and guilt, which almost lives up to the ecstatic early reviews that materialised in response to its Sundance premiere earlier this year. It’s therefore a little disappointing when things begin to hew closer to conventional horror territory, and the sense of creeping dread is punctured by some outlandish plot twists. Still, it’s among the most accomplished shockers in recent memory, with Collette on career-best form as a mother at her literal wit’s end. Jason Reitman delivered an incisive portrait of arrested development with his bruising 2011 black comedy Young Adult. In the wake of subsequent duds like Men, Women and Children (2014), he seems intent on recreating the magic of this relative career highpoint, reteaming with writer Diablo Cody and star Charlize Theron for another unflinching depiction of a woman struggling to navigate the adult world. Tully sees Theron disappear into the role of Marlo, a harrassed, sleep-deprived mother-of-three, who receives a night nanny – the titular Tully (Mackenzie Davis) – as a baby shower gift from her wealthy brother Craig (Mark Duplass). As the pair form a strangely intimate bond while they jointly care for a newborn, the quirky, free-spirited Tully forces Marlo to reckon with her own impulsive, immature tendencies. As a sharply-written, darkly comic glimpse at the horror of raising young children, there’s much to enjoy here. But its final act, at once audacious and derivative, is sure to prove deeply polarising. n Starts May 31 Tully D: Jason Reitman (US 2018) with Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis | Starts June 14 Hereditary D: Ari Aster (US 2018) with Toni Collette, Alex Wolff | Starts June 28 Love, Simon D: Greg Berlanti (US 2018) with Nick Robinson, Jennifer Garner 20 EXBERLINER 172
WHAT’S ON — Film Reviews Starts May 31 Hostiles D: Scott Cooper (US 2018) with Christian Bale, Rosamund Pike Hostiles Scott Cooper masterfully marshals brutal shootouts and elegiac moments in his first film since 2015’s underwhelming gangster drama Black Mass. Hostiles is a stern, deliberately paced genre piece that will delight fans of the old west. It’s a straightforward tale of a brooding army captain (Bale) who reluctantly escorts a dying Cheyenne chief (Wes Studi) and his family to their home as the territorial wars die down. Bale and Studi are astounding, delivering some of their finest work in years. The film is moodily shot by cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi, whose exquisite craft is coupled with Max Richter’s plaintive score. The cumulative effect of the hypnotic landscapes and soundscapes ensures that Hostiles can hold its head high alongside recent revisionist western gems like The Homesman and Slow West. — David Mouriquand Starts June 14 Pope Francis: A Man of His Word D: Wim Wenders (Switzerland, Holy See, Italy, Germany, France 2018) Offering a rare chance to see the world through the window of a popemobile, Wim Wenders’ new doc gets intimate with the allsmiles Pope Francis by following him around the world and through exclusive sit-down interviews. It’s surprisingly compelling to sit back and observe Francis eloquently addressing social injustice in his own humorous and charismatic manner. His empathetic nature shines even when he’s not speaking — during one particularly moving scene, he recognises the inadequacy of language and offers a moment of silence while visiting survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in Tacloban. Sadly, an incessantly laudatory tone ensures that the film is ultimately little more than glossy propaganda – parallels drawn between our protagonist and his namesake St. Francis of Assisi feel particularly sycophantic. — Yun-hua Chen Starts June 14 The Sense of an Ending D: Ritesh Batra (UK, US 2017) with Jim Broadbent, Charlotte Rampling Adapted from Julian Barnes’ Booker-winning novel, this elegantly restrained drama is anchored by stellar central performances. Upon receiving an unsettling letter, divorced retiree Tony Webster (Broadbent) sinks deep into unreliable memories to reflect on his failed first love from college and the unresolved fall-out with his talented best friend Adrian (Joe Alwyn), while trying to reconnect with his ex-wife (Harriet Walter) and expectant daughter (Michelle Dockery) in the present. Mystery is well maintained through the intercutting between flashbacks, new leads and subsequently revised memories; in a playfully postmodern manner, the “sense of an ending” finds itself in fragmentation, as Tony probes his own past and attempts to find an anchor for the present. A subtly melancholy and gently entertaining film. — YC Starts June 21 The Rider D: Chloé Zhao (US 2017) with Brady Jandreau, Lilly Jandreau In this assured sophomore feature, Chloé Zhao riffs on the life experiences of her non-professional cast to deliver an authentic slice of rural Americana. It revolves around rodeo champ Brady (Jandreau), who is recovering from a serious head injury. It’s clear from the get-go that the damage goes beyond the physical, as the protruding staples on the side of his shaved head have also clearly shaken his sense of self. The first-time actor is mesmerising as he essentially relives the traumatic aftermath of his accident and the heartbreak of a doctormandated riding ban. This neo-western soulfully grapples with themes of wounded masculinity and the fragile myth of the American Dream without ever indulging in easy platitudes. A low-key triumph. — DM The Rider 20.4.– 22.7.18 Covered in Time and History: Die Filme von Ana Mendieta Gropius Bau Niederkirchnerstr. 7, 10963 Berlin www.gropiusbau.de Mendieta, Untitled: Silueta Series, 1978, Super 8 film, colour, silent, © The Estate of Ana Mendieta Collection, LLC., Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co.
Page 1 and 2: Antisemitism Kippa scandal gone hay
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS EXBERLINER 172 - JUNE 2018
Page 5 and 6: POLITICS REPORTAGE ZEITGEIST ART MU
Page 7 and 8: BEST OF BERLIN— June 2018 BEST GU
Page 9 and 10: ANTISEMITISM Meanwhile, Islamophobi
Page 11 and 12: ANTISEMITISM Are you saying it has
Page 13 and 14: BERLINS ONLY OPEN AIR-CINEMA SHOWIN
Page 15 and 16: SPOTLIGHT Schöneberg turf wars Sch
Page 17 and 18: CRIME Snapshot IVANA from the block
Page 19 and 20: CRIME CRIME Alex’s expansive trai
Page 21: WHAT’S ON — Exhibitions 9 decad
Page 25 and 26: WHAT’S ON — Film Previews 19),
Page 27 and 28: WHAT’S ON — Music Verbatim Hann
Page 29 and 30: WHAT’S ON — Music Preview Berli
Page 31 and 32: WHAT’S ON — Stage “How shall
Page 33 and 34: of deliberate creativity? The poiso
Page 35 and 36: WHAT’S ON — Art Highlight Hello
Page 37 and 38: WHAT’S ON — Art Reviews James T
Page 39 and 40: WHAT’S ON — Calendar THU 14 Ani
Page 41 and 42: ADVERTORIAL — The Berlin Guide Fr
Page 43 and 44: COLUMN— The Gay Berliner The gayv
Page 45 and 46: BERLIN BITES Review Tisk Warmed-ove
Page 47 and 48: ADVERTISING — The Language School
Page 49: U S B A U —G R O P I U S B A U

EXB 172

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