Yuval Adler's Fifties-set film (co-written with Ryan Covington) has a serious subject at its heart - that of war crimes and an escape from justice but though the director initially seems to approach this in a sombre fashion, as he tries to build his moral maze of ambiguity, all too often he can't resist using B-movie exploitation devices to further the story.
Things start off well, at least in terms of the film's look and feel, thanks to strong costuming and thoughtful camera work from Kolja Brandt, a large bubble bursting in the first few moments heralding what is to come in the world of Maja (Noomi Rapace), a Romanian emigre to the US. There's an edgy quality to the camerawork and the way Maja chain smokes cigarettes that suggests she doesn't quite fit in, even though she is trying her best to do so.
Adler throws the film into third.
Things start off well, at least in terms of the film's look and feel, thanks to strong costuming and thoughtful camera work from Kolja Brandt, a large bubble bursting in the first few moments heralding what is to come in the world of Maja (Noomi Rapace), a Romanian emigre to the US. There's an edgy quality to the camerawork and the way Maja chain smokes cigarettes that suggests she doesn't quite fit in, even though she is trying her best to do so.
Adler throws the film into third.
- 5/13/2021
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The worst sin of “The Secrets We Keep” is not that it so blatantly and flagrantly rips off Ariel Dorfman’s play and subsequent movie “Death and the Maiden” — although if the Chilean author wanted to sue for a credit, he’s certainly got a case.
The history of art is the history of creators borrowing from each other, whether they call it homage or reference or appropriation. What grates about director Yuval Adler and his co-writer Ryan Covington pilfering so obviously from Dorfman’s work is that they haven’t done anything particularly interesting with it.
Is there potential in changing the setting of “Death and the Maiden” from an unnamed Latin American country to the USA of the 1950s, still reeling in various ways from World War II? Absolutely. Do Adler and Covington achieve that potential? Not in the slightest.
Noomi Rapace stars as Maja, trying her best...
The history of art is the history of creators borrowing from each other, whether they call it homage or reference or appropriation. What grates about director Yuval Adler and his co-writer Ryan Covington pilfering so obviously from Dorfman’s work is that they haven’t done anything particularly interesting with it.
Is there potential in changing the setting of “Death and the Maiden” from an unnamed Latin American country to the USA of the 1950s, still reeling in various ways from World War II? Absolutely. Do Adler and Covington achieve that potential? Not in the slightest.
Noomi Rapace stars as Maja, trying her best...
- 9/16/2020
- by Alonso Duralde
- The Wrap
“Operation ‘Business As Usual'” is the name of the undercover mission assigned to Mossad agent Rachel Currin in Tehran: a knowingly ironic label for a challenging undertaking that gets considerably less orthodox the longer it goes on. Less knowingly, it would also be an appropriate title for “The Operative,” a proficient but unsurprising espionage thriller from Israeli writer-director Yuval Adler that offers another well-fitted showcase for Diane Kruger’s stern resolve as a performer. Rather like Fatih Akin’s recent “In the Fade,” it’s an otherwise fairly impersonal genre piece that hangs on its leading lady’s every word, move and steel-eyed glance. Kruger’s presence will secure international interest in this out-of-competition Berlinale premiere, with multi-platform distribution a likely part of its business plan.
A few episodes of the USA Network series “Shooter” aside, this is Adler’s first work as a director since his 2013 debut “Bethlehem,” a taut,...
A few episodes of the USA Network series “Shooter” aside, this is Adler’s first work as a director since his 2013 debut “Bethlehem,” a taut,...
- 2/10/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Perhaps the smallest scale franchise in the business is the “I Love You” anthology of films. Each installment in what’s called the “Cities of Love” franchise looks at romantic stories centered in one town. Paris, je t’aime started it off, with New York, I Love You and Rio, I Love You coming next in line. Now, this week brings Berlin, I Love You to screens. Unfortunately, while the first two efforts had lots of charm and offered more good segments than bad, the inverse is true here. Too much of the story is easy to dismiss and forgettable. For the first time, you don’t ever get a sense of why this is a place to love, or why someone might fall in love there. This movie is, as mentioned above, the latest installment of the Cities of Love / “I Love You” anthology series. Obviously, it’s centered in Berlin,...
- 2/9/2019
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
The juxtaposition of moments in time, such as one person experiencing immense joy and another hitting rock bottom, or someone dying while someone else is being born, has always been an intriguing concept in film. But there’s a certain finesse that goes into making each separate vignette engaging — and in some cases, even urgent — so that these slivers of tales resonate with the audience. Unfortunately, “Berlin, I Love You” lacks that essential finesse.
This fourth installment of the “Cities of Love” franchise centers on Berlin and, like the other segments, tells ten not-so-interwoven stories that illuminate various themes including love and loss. There’s the woman (Keira Knightley) who takes in an abandoned Arabic child, much to the chagrin of her disapproving mother (Helen Mirren). There’s also the Hollywood actor (Luke Wilson) grappling with his stagnant career and looking for something, or someone, who can exhilarate him once again.
This fourth installment of the “Cities of Love” franchise centers on Berlin and, like the other segments, tells ten not-so-interwoven stories that illuminate various themes including love and loss. There’s the woman (Keira Knightley) who takes in an abandoned Arabic child, much to the chagrin of her disapproving mother (Helen Mirren). There’s also the Hollywood actor (Luke Wilson) grappling with his stagnant career and looking for something, or someone, who can exhilarate him once again.
- 2/6/2019
- by Candice Frederick
- The Wrap
Among the many pleasures nestled in Joseph Losey’s late triumph Roads to the South (Yves Montand saying the name “Walter Benjamin” is the purest delight) is a scene where father and son communists, Montand and Laurent Malet, play Russian roulette. Montand is a screenwriter whom Malet believes has lost his revolutionary nerve and sold out. Their mother, who linked the firebrands, has died, and they seem to have nothing left binding them. How could a young agitator respect this lapsed whore of a Marxist, selling movies and living vicariously through real activists as he grows old and dies in his cozy estate? How can one be a Marxist and still respect the cinema? Pasolini spent his too-short life investigating this question with every movie he made, never arriving at an answer beyond the mere fact of having done so, thus demonstrating its possibility. Have we need of further proof?...
- 2/21/2018
- MUBI
Thriller marks Emma Watson’s first lead role since Harry Potter.
Pincipal photography is about to begin on thriller Colonia, from German director Florian Gallenberger (John Rabe).
The film stars Emma Watson in her first lead role since the Harry Potter franchise and Daniel Brühl, the German star of Rush and The Face of an Angel.
The film will shoot in Luxembourg, Munich, Berlin and South America, until the end of the year.
Colonia tells the story of Lena and Daniel, a young couple, who become entangled in the Chilean military coup of 1973.
Daniel is abducted by Pinochet’s secret police and Lena tracks him to a sealed off area in the South of the country, called Colonia Dignidad.
The Colonia presents itself as a charitable mission run by lay preacher Paul Schäfer but, in fact, is a place nobody ever escaped from. Lena decides to join the cult in order to find Daniel.
Gallenberger is directing...
Pincipal photography is about to begin on thriller Colonia, from German director Florian Gallenberger (John Rabe).
The film stars Emma Watson in her first lead role since the Harry Potter franchise and Daniel Brühl, the German star of Rush and The Face of an Angel.
The film will shoot in Luxembourg, Munich, Berlin and South America, until the end of the year.
Colonia tells the story of Lena and Daniel, a young couple, who become entangled in the Chilean military coup of 1973.
Daniel is abducted by Pinochet’s secret police and Lena tracks him to a sealed off area in the South of the country, called Colonia Dignidad.
The Colonia presents itself as a charitable mission run by lay preacher Paul Schäfer but, in fact, is a place nobody ever escaped from. Lena decides to join the cult in order to find Daniel.
Gallenberger is directing...
- 9/29/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Thriller marks Emma Watson’s first lead role since Harry Potter.
Pincipal photography is about to begin on thriller Colonia, from German director Florian Gallenberger (John Rabe).
The film stars Emma Watson in her first lead role since the Harry Potter franchise and Daniel Brühl, the German star of Rush and The Face of an Angel.
The film will shoot in Luxembourg, Munich, Berlin and South America, until the end of the year.
Colonia tells the story of Lena and Daniel, a young couple, who become entangled in the Chilean military coup of 1973.
Daniel is abducted by Pinochet’s secret police and Lena tracks him to a sealed off area in the South of the country, called Colonia Dignidad.
The Colonia presents itself as a charitable mission run by lay preacher Paul Schäfer but, in fact, is a place nobody ever escaped from. Lena decides to join the cult in order to find Daniel.
Gallenberger is directing...
Pincipal photography is about to begin on thriller Colonia, from German director Florian Gallenberger (John Rabe).
The film stars Emma Watson in her first lead role since the Harry Potter franchise and Daniel Brühl, the German star of Rush and The Face of an Angel.
The film will shoot in Luxembourg, Munich, Berlin and South America, until the end of the year.
Colonia tells the story of Lena and Daniel, a young couple, who become entangled in the Chilean military coup of 1973.
Daniel is abducted by Pinochet’s secret police and Lena tracks him to a sealed off area in the South of the country, called Colonia Dignidad.
The Colonia presents itself as a charitable mission run by lay preacher Paul Schäfer but, in fact, is a place nobody ever escaped from. Lena decides to join the cult in order to find Daniel.
Gallenberger is directing...
- 9/29/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
German helmer Florian Gallenberger won an Oscar for his 2000 short film Quiero Ser (I Want To Be…) and followed that up with such features as Honolulu and City Of War: The Story Of John Rabe. Both those films starred Daniel Bruhl with whom the director is reteaming on Colonia. Principal photography is about to begin on the thriller that has Emma Watson opposite Bruhl in a tale inspired by true events. They play a young couple who become entangled in the Chilean military coup of 1973. Daniel (Bruhl) is abducted by Pinochet’s secret police and Lena (Watson) tracks him to a sealed-off area in the south of the country called Colonia Dignidad. The Colonia presents itself as a charitable mission run by a lay preacher, but is in fact a place from which no one has ever escaped. In order to find her beloved, Lena decides to join the cult.
- 9/29/2014
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline
There is not a cynical or mean-spirited moment in Peter Chelsom's new film "Hector and the Search For Happiness," and the film's observations about life are in some ways so direct, so fundamental, that it would be easy to shrug it off and laugh at its sincerity. Happiness is a subject I've been thinking about quite a bit this year. At 44, I find it elusive, temporary. I've upended my life this year, moving out of my house, negotiating a divorce, building a new life to share with my kids, and even exploring the notion of new love, and all of it has been life-altering and shattering and scary and exhilarating, and above all else, necessary. Completely and totally necessary. When I was a young man, I saw happiness as something that landed on you, something that was simply a by-product of living life. I took happiness for granted, and...
- 9/18/2014
- by Drew McWeeny
- Hitfix
Originally ran November 12th, 2009 as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival
It.s not much of a qualifier, but writer/director Philipp Stolzl.s North Face, Nordwand in its native German, could very well be the greatest story about mountain climbing put to film. Full of staggering cinematography, incredible performances, and an epic sense of bravery in the face of tragedy, it is a truly engaging tale of man versus nature that never fails to rise to the heights set forth by its natural antagonist.
The film is based on the true story of Toni Kurz, played by Benno Furmann, and Andreas Hinterstoisser, played by Florian Lukas, two, young German men who always had a knack for climbing things, challenging themselves all along the way. In the summer of 1936, as Germany was preparing to host the Olympic Games, these two men set out to do something none had ever accomplished.
It.s not much of a qualifier, but writer/director Philipp Stolzl.s North Face, Nordwand in its native German, could very well be the greatest story about mountain climbing put to film. Full of staggering cinematography, incredible performances, and an epic sense of bravery in the face of tragedy, it is a truly engaging tale of man versus nature that never fails to rise to the heights set forth by its natural antagonist.
The film is based on the true story of Toni Kurz, played by Benno Furmann, and Andreas Hinterstoisser, played by Florian Lukas, two, young German men who always had a knack for climbing things, challenging themselves all along the way. In the summer of 1936, as Germany was preparing to host the Olympic Games, these two men set out to do something none had ever accomplished.
- 3/26/2010
- by Kirk
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Directed by Philipp Stölzl from a screenplay by Stölzl, Christoph Silber, Johannes Naber, and Rupert Henning, the stunningly shot mountain-climbing drama North Face is currently playing in the Los Angeles area at Encino’s Town Center 5, West La’s Royal Theatre, and Pasadena’s Playhouse 7, in addition to Irvine’s University Town Center. The adventure drama stars Benno Fürmann, Johanna Wokalek, Florian Lukas, Simon Schwarz, Georg Friedrich, and Ulrich Tukur (one of the leads in The White Ribbon). A tale entwining melodrama, Nazis, Aryan superiority ideology, mind-blowing vistas, and some pretty awesome stunts, North Face won the best screenplay and best cinematography (Kolja Brandt) awards from the German Film Critics Association, and best cinematography and sound awards from the German Film Academy. The [...]...
- 2/16/2010
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Taking your vacation at the beach is Ok for tourists, if you can tolerate the sand and the dampness, but visiting the mountains is for travelers. The mountains can offer the kinds of demands that the ocean rarely does, and we.re not talking about the challenge of meeting fellow singles at the Concord in New York.s Catskills ranges. We.re talking extreme sport: climbing the heights, which can be something else if your most exhausting task has been to ascend the endless stairs on the F line in New York.s 63rd Street station. Nor do we refer to using a walking stick to amble up a sierra that points up from the ground at a thirty-degree angle. Philipp Stölz shows the way in his documentary-style drama based on an actual event that finds pairs of athletes who defy death (or do not as the specific case may...
- 1/13/2010
- Arizona Reporter
It’s not much of a qualifier, but writer/director Philipp Stolzl’s The North Face, Nordwand in its native German, could very well be the greatest story about mountain climbing put to film. Full of staggering cinematography, incredible performances, and an epic sense of bravery in the face of tragedy, it is a truly engaging tale of man versus nature that never fails to rise to the heights set forth by its natural antagonist.
The film is based on the true story of Toni Kurz, played by Benno Furmann, and Andreas Hinterstoisser, played by Florian Lukas, two, young German men who always had a knack for climbing things, challenging themselves all along the way. In the Summer of 1936, as Germany was preparing to host the Olympic games, these two men set out to do something none had ever accomplished. In July of that year, they set out to climb...
The film is based on the true story of Toni Kurz, played by Benno Furmann, and Andreas Hinterstoisser, played by Florian Lukas, two, young German men who always had a knack for climbing things, challenging themselves all along the way. In the Summer of 1936, as Germany was preparing to host the Olympic games, these two men set out to do something none had ever accomplished. In July of that year, they set out to climb...
- 11/12/2009
- by Kirk
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Berlin – "John Rabe," an historic biopic about the German business man who saved 200,000 Chinese civilians from the Nanking massacre, is the front runner for this year's German Film Awards – or Lolas – with seven nominations.
The film's nominations include best film, best director for Florian Gallenberger and a best actor for star Ulrich Tukur as Rabe.
Steve Buscemi also picked up a nomination as best supporting actor for his role as an idealistic American doctor who helps Rabe. It was one of the few Lola nominations ever given to a non-German actor.
Uli Edel's Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated terrorist drama "The Baader Meinhof Complex" picked up four Lola noms, including best film and best actress for Johanna Wokalek.
"Chiko," a gangster movie by first time director Ozgur Yildirim, surprised many by also nabbing a best film nom along with ones for Yildirim's screenplay, for lead actor Denis Moschitto and for editor Sebastian Thumler.
The film's nominations include best film, best director for Florian Gallenberger and a best actor for star Ulrich Tukur as Rabe.
Steve Buscemi also picked up a nomination as best supporting actor for his role as an idealistic American doctor who helps Rabe. It was one of the few Lola nominations ever given to a non-German actor.
Uli Edel's Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated terrorist drama "The Baader Meinhof Complex" picked up four Lola noms, including best film and best actress for Johanna Wokalek.
"Chiko," a gangster movie by first time director Ozgur Yildirim, surprised many by also nabbing a best film nom along with ones for Yildirim's screenplay, for lead actor Denis Moschitto and for editor Sebastian Thumler.
- 3/13/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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