When Iranian directors were announced Maryam Moghadam And Behtash Sanaeeha They would not be able to attend the meeting in person. Berlinale To promote the competition submission of their new feature film, the news that authorities in their country were not only confiscating their passports but also planning to file criminal charges against them over the film was hardly surprising. Finally, Tehran government has been persecuting artists for decades – including two filmmakers who won the Golden Bear at this festival, Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rasoulof – and this harassment has intensified recently in retaliation for terrorism. The wave of protests that led to the death of Mahsa Amini In police hands in September 2022. Of course, the surprise comes later.
‘protagonist’My Favorite Cake‘ is a mature woman who has been living alone since she was widowed decades ago and one day decides to go out in search of love before it is too late; With all her kindness, she manages to seduce a man who was once abandoned by his wife and invites him to spend the evening at her house; There they talk, drink too much wine, dance passionately and, fascinated by each other’s company, begin to think about a common future and immediately consider spending the night together. considering The violence of the Iranian theocratic regime against women’s autonomy and emotionality, it makes sense that they would oppose any fiction that promotes this type of femininity. The surprising thing was that in the end – and this is the most worrying thing – they felt threatened by a movie. brutally punishes his characters’ rebellion and emotional needs and perhaps due to the incompetence of its rulers rather than any specific ideological agenda, it aligns with the insane idea of official morality prevalent in Iran.
Beauty and prejudice
“The release today of the second of the films nominated for the Golden Bear creates a much different and more enjoyable surprise.”A Different Man‘, largely because it manages to transform what could have been the sum of allusions to references as diverse as ‘The Elephant Man’ (1980), ‘The Fly’ (1986), ‘Vertigo’ (1958) and ‘Vertigo’ (1958). It was written by Charlie Kaufman in a completely different work and its crazy wit and lack of assertiveness when proposing deep thoughts.
He plays an actor whose face is disfigured and full of tumors due to neurofibromatosis, and who blames his appearance for his lack of success; But after an experimental treatment that transforms him into a beautiful man, he discovers the terrible truth: Despite his physical recovery, he still has to live on his own, and it’s not pleasant company.. The American director reflects on his journey Adam Schimberg creates a complex metatextual framework for inquiry. ideas of beauty and normality promoted by today’s society and our prejudices The role that those who do not comply with this should play in thisquestioning the methods artists like himself use to tell stories about people suffering from deformities. And all the while, he keeps ‘A Different Man’ constantly changing shape, twisting and turning, deftly shifting from black comedy to horror movies, from existential drama to the grotesque.
None of the films shown in competition in Germany today were as full of expectations as the fourth feature film. Alonso Ruizpalacios -Thanks to productions like ‘Museo’ (2018) and ‘A Police Movie’ (2021), he is confirmed as a new talent in Mexican cinema, making it the biggest disappointment of the day. An update of Arnold Wexker’s famous play published in 1957, it pretends to use a portrait of what goes on in the kitchen of a restaurant in New York’s Times Square. meditates on both the multiculturalism of the modern world and the exploitation and racism inherent in capitalism, but does not do so secretly. Ruizpalacios always ‘turned out to be less interested in the twenty characters packed inside’Kitchen‘ rather than using them to overwhelm us with visual tricks, staging ideas, impressive choreography, aphoristic dialogue, and other displays of cinematographic mastery. Could he have been inspired by his compatriot Alejandro Gonzáñez Iñárritu in doing this?