Posted at 8:00 a.m.
A tribute from a distance for Isabelle Huppert
One of the highlights of the sixth day of the festival was to be Isabelle Huppert’s presence at a few activities, on the sidelines of the tribute paid to her by the Berlinale this year. Having tested positive for COVID-19 in Paris on Monday, the actress was however forced to cancel her trip at the last minute. It is therefore in duplex that she was able to receive the Golden Bear of Honor that she was awarded, just before the screening, out of competition, ofAbout Joan. In this rather special film by Laurent Larivière (I am a soldier), Isabelle Huppert plays an editor who, from the first scene, speaks directly to the camera to tell her life story. It appears, however, that this oral autobiography includes episodes that no longer have anything to do with reality, as if this woman who has so often plunged into the worlds of others finally began to spice up her own life with stories. This film is not uninteresting, but it takes itself so seriously that it is difficult to subscribe to the proposal.
A mixed reception for A summer like this
PHOTO PROVIDED BY MAISON 4:3
Laure Giappiconi in A summer like thisa film by Denis Côté
Denis Côté’s films are rarely unanimous and it was not to be expected that it would be otherwise with A summer like this. That said, the reactions of the so-called “reference” press, without lapsing into dithyramb, remain quite favorable. The criticism of Deadline indicates that maybe the filmmaker didn’t want to say something, maybe he just wanted to put big words on the screen. ” And why not ? A summer like this is certainly entertaining and doesn’t have to be anything else,” she adds. In the British newspaper The Guardian, it is stated that it is “undeniably true that the characters and performances unexpectedly lean towards something poignant and rather melancholic at the end”. We are a little less enthusiastic about the English specialist newspaper screencalling it a “verbose, formless, and overly broad film that is slow to introduce us to characters that will remain unchanged and, in some cases, not explored satisfactorily.”
Seen at the Berlinale: Against the Ice
PHOTO PROVIDED BY NETFLIX
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Joe Cole in Against the Icea film by Peter Flinth
Bringing to the screen a screenplay inspired by historical facts that Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Joe Derrick wrote based on the story of Arctic explorer Ejnar Mikkelsen, Danish director Peter Flinth offers a very beautiful adventure film outfit. The story focuses on describing how a mission took place in 1909 to recover evidence in northeastern Greenland of the passage of a previous team that had failed in its mission, to claim on behalf of Denmark a territory disputed by the Americans. Very quickly, this dangerous expedition will only feature two men (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Joe Cole), whose mission will stretch much longer than expected. Beyond the narrative, the main interest ofAgainst the Ice lies in viewing these spectacular arctic landscapes. If the special effects are sometimes too apparent (especially in the scenes involving polar bears), this sledding road movie nevertheless reserves good moments of suspense. Presented out of competition in Berlin in the Berlinale Special section, Against the Ice will be available on Netflix on March 2.