Invasion of the body snatchers (1956)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1956
	Director: Don Siegel
	Actors: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: 16.02.2017, Zeughauskino, Berlinale2017, English
Synopsis: Dr. Miles Bennell (McCarthy) returns to his small town practice to find several of his patients suffering the paranoid delusion that their friends or relatives are impostors. He is initially skeptical, especially when the alleged dopplegängers are able to answer detailed questions about their victim's lives, but he is eventually persuaded that something odd has happened and determines to find out what is causing this phenomenon.
Review: I remember this film from what the character Bill Peltzer in Gremlins is watching late in the night. As I saw the opportunity to wtch it, I could not resist. This film can be seen as a paranoid 1950s warning against the communists or as a metaphor for the tyranny of McCarthyism.  It is basically a model for the genre of North American SF movies in the 50s to 70s that inspired generations of cinephiles. How to react in front of the encounter with aliens, even worse in case of an alien invasion? From then on, indeed the interpretation of the movie can be ambivalent. And for that time, it is not so bad. Some historical epic movies are rather pro-Church.  Therefore as a model, this movie settles some common tools such as the opening scene with view on contrasted clouds and radio announcements; the fact that aliens look like humans but "without feelings"; aliens moving on in mass as if all attracted by one point; aliens do not eat like humans; etc. For this I liked the movie. The acting is kept simple and even sometimes some scenes seem to be repeated as the pursuit in the corridors look the same in any corridor. But instead of making the movie boring, it makes it even funnier to me.
Rating: 6 /10

Seitsemän laulua tundralta (2000)

	Also Known As: Seven songs from the tundra
	Year of first release: 2000
	Director: Anastasia Lapsui, Markku Lehmuskallio
	Actors: -
	Country: FIN
	Genre: Drama, Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 17.02.2017, Cubix8, Berlinale2017, Russian/Nenets version with English subtitles
Synopsis: In the middle of the vast white tundra, a reindeer is sacrificed by a small group of devout people. A spell-binding song accompanies and describes the moment. The recent history of the Nenets is told. The invasion by the Soviet Union. Independent and prosperous nomadic reindeer herders were forcefully expropriated of their resources and relocated. They were expected to give up not only their  language and traditions, but also their children to the residential school system.
Review: The movie is shown in black and white with a grainy style from explorator documentaries such as Charcot ans Shackleton. Having a style between documentary and fiction, the movie is a mix of recent movie material (ca 2000) and archival material.  It let me go and feel the identity loss and will of survival as people. This can be watched like a series of tales. Via this story telling where each tale is very simple but authentic, the story becomes very interesting. Unfortunately the style is quite hard to watch. And therefore the good stories barely touched my emotions. The Q&A with the director Anastasia Lapsui is reported in the article on the Berlinale 2017.
Rating: 3 /10

Berlinale 2017 in Berlin

This is the third time I went to the Berlinale. First in 2008, then in 2015 and again this year in 2017. 

In 2008 I had been overwhelmed by discovering a popular festival in the sense that the screenings are in many movie theaters of Berlin and that the people of Berlin goes then to watch the movies. I liked this spirit. But I was also surprised by the price policy making movie-goers like me paying a lot as there is no pass, not even for the day. This made this week of Berlinale particularly expensive. 
This is why I decided not to go afterwards. But when the section NATIVe (movies by and/or about  indigenes) started to be part of the Berlinale, I decided to go back again (see here). Unfortunately the program was available just few weeks before the Berlinale and I booked only few days there. Indeed I expected to be able to watch many indigeneous within these few days. But the movies from this section are screened only once. And I managed to watch only two from the NATIVe section dedicated that year to American countries. Therefore I watched other movies as well. 
This year 2017 I wanted to watch again some movies from the NATIVe section and I took some days off for that. It allowed me to watch four movies from the NATIVe section dedicated this year to the Arctic countries.

You can select in JoRafCinema all the movies seen in Berlinale2015 by searching Berlinale2015.
 

Sameblod (2016)

	Also Known As: Sámi blood
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Amanda Kernell
	Actors: Lene Cecilia Sparrok, Mia Erika Sparrok, Maj-Doris Rimp, Julius Fleischanderl
	Country: S, N, DK
	Genre: Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 16.02.2017, Cubix8, Berlinale2017, Original Swedish and Southern Sami with English subtitles
Synopsis: In the 1930s, Elle Marja (Lene Cecilia Sparrok) and her sister Njenna (Mia Erika Sparrok) are forced to leave her reindeer-breeding Sámi family to attend boarding school far away from home, a typical practice at that time. With 14, Elle Marja is as strong-minded as she is rebellious. She strives for the approval of her teachers by outshining her classmates in adapting to Swedish culture, which she has been taught is far superior to her own. Yearning to fit into a society that is not truly open to welcoming her people, she suffers discrimination and psychological cruelty. Still, she would rather completely forsake her roots if it helped her to fit in.
Review:  For a debut feature, Amanda Kernell offers a picture of a woman who rejected her culture to be accepted in an expectedly better one and a focus on the transition phase at the start. Abuse imposed upon the Sámi by official institutions, depicted with behaviour of the teachers, the doctors, the parents and the friends of Lukas (Fleischanderl). Her tenacity makes her succeed. The atmosphere is oppressive as the Sámi are suspicious with regard to the Swedes and the Swedes see the Sámi clearly as animals or at least inferior beings. In addition to the Swede/Sámi opposition, there is also the man/woman wall to overcome. Therefore I believe the book is very rich and well written. It uses many conflicts that are emotionally binding. The acting is amazing. The young girls are Sámi and indeed reindeer-breeder. Not only the handling with knives is therefore authentic but also the emotions and the behaviour. On the other side, they are indeed acting, as there is neither exaggeration nor overreaction. The Swedes are acting with the latent racism that is oppressing The movie is done together with the Danish short movie Half&half.  The Q&A with the main actress Lene Cecilia Sparrok and the director Amanda Kernell is reported in the article on the Berlinale 2017.
Rating: 7/10

Predestination (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: Michael & Peter Spierig as The Spierig Brothers (Undead, Daybreakers)
	Actors: Ethan Hawke (Gatacca), Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor
	Country: AUS
	Genre: SF, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: 27.02.2017, VOD, 40" TV screen.
Synopsis: To save the future he must protect the past.
Review: I had never heard about this movie which was recommended to me by the Netflix engine, but a few scenes into Predestinations I knew that it took elements from a short novel considered one of the best stories about time-travel: Robert A. Heinlein's All you Zombies which I have read and mentioned in my article about the Starship Troopers saga. What I realized only later in the movie is that it is in fact a full adaptation of the novel, and a good one at that for any amateur of SF B-movies. The short story is not much adapted to fit the format of a full-length cinema feature. Only an extra layer of relationships is skilfully added, leading to more character development and dialogs when the novel is more a monologue, and the introduction of a McGuffin that also makes the story parts stick together. The editing, crucial in such stories, is well done to preserve the mystery and deliver the twists at the desired moments for someone who doesn't know the story like I do (knowing those twists did in fact spoil a bit my pleasure of watching the movie). Ethan Hawk is good, and I can only regret a better cast for the character of Jane whose sex is hard to conceal in spite of a good acting and a well-applied make-up and wardrobe. I have known the Spierig brothers since their refreshing home-made Undead and the no-less original Daybreakers. It is nice to see that they are still at the forefront of presenting classic SF stories (zombies, vampires, time-travel) from a new angle, with the help of a Master of written SF in the case of Predestinations. Their next feature is entitled Winchester, and I could be curious to see what they plan to do to the Saw franchise with Legacy.
Rating: 7 /10

End Day (2005)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2005
	Director: Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla, Rogue One: a Star Wars Story)
	Actors: Bill McGuire, Jay Melosh, John Oxford
	Country: GB
	Genre: SF, Drama
	Conditions of visioning: 26.02.2017, VOD, 40" TV screen.
Synopsis: On his way to a particle accelerator in New York, Dr. Howell goes through different realities in which different catastrophes hit the world.
Review: Cheap and clumsy are the words that quickly came to my mind when watching this 48-minute docu-drama TV-movie produced by the BBC. The story is titillating: demonstrators protest against a particle physics experiment that they fear can create a black hole (inspired by the story around the European LHC that discovered the Higgs Boson, see Particle Fever), and the main characters defends on TV that we have more chance to be hit by a large asteroid or experience a super-volcano, end we then see those alternate realities unfold with in the background real-life professors explaining a bit the physics behind. The super-volcano scene is edited out from the Netflix (and American) version but can be found on YouTube. The special effects are barely watchable and the families drama not even, the TV-movie clearly suffers from a lack of money and the lack of conviction of the actors, so why watch it at all? Because it is the first screenplay and realization of certain Gareth Edwards that went from Special Effects to directing the recent blockbuster Rogue One: a Star Wars Story in just three movies (after Monsters and Godzilla). Besides some Easter eggs in the movies (a theater showing Groundhog Day a movie with a similar plot idea, the names Edwards and Moxon - the editor - on the side of a boat...), you get delighted with hints of his future style, like the action scenes being shown on a small TV instead of full-screen, and the camera quickly looking away to focus on characters. It is funny to think back of some shots re-used directly in his future successes. And since End Day he also improved a lot his development of characters. That must have been a very precious and useful experience in his life.
Rating: 3 /10

Hitler, a Career (1977)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 1977
	Director: Joachim Fest, Christian Herrendoerfer
	Actors: Gert Westphal, Stephen Murray, Artur Axmann
	Country: D
	Genre: Documentary, War
	Conditions of visioning: 25.02.2017, VOD, 42" TV
Synopsis: The story of Adolf Hitler's life with emphasis on his talent for seducing crowds.
Review: I have recently been interested in learning more about The Third Reich and Adolf Hitler's life, topics of which I am frankly quasi ignorant apart from the biased French view taught at school and the American one in the more known movies and Documentaries. So I promptly started this German Documentary when I saw it on Netflix in spite of its duration of two and a half hours. It is so well made that I realized only after visioning that is is now 40 years-old, older than me, and that its production year is now as close to the events it depicts as it is to today. It was produced in West Germany which was still more than ten years away from re-unification, so the mind-set at the time was different from today but it doesn't really show on this Documentary that I could have believed was made last year. The movie consists solely of archive footage of Hitler, his entourage, contemporary events and the occasional stock footage to illustrate how the world looked like at the time. The video is accompanied by a narrator's voice (in English in the version I watched) guiding you through what you see. For me the tour de force in this Documentary, and its main interest, is the analysis made of Hitler's character supported by archive footage that was put together at a time before the digital age. The historical and political background is always present, but the Documentary constantly focuses on the evolution of its main character, and how events had an influence (or not) on him. This is already obvious from the very beginning when a full 10-minute speech by the Führer at its height is peeled in details, from the pause at the beginning to the hand gestures and the increasing confidence in the words. A quite fascinating approach. The rest of the Documentary is of the same style, deciphering the mystery of how can one man entice millions, become so powerful, and in the end be the major cause behind 50 million death. Well at least this is how the Documentary shows it. For Dramas set in Germany during WWII JoRafCinema can advise Hannah Arendt, Lore, Elser or Frantz, and about WWII in other countries Roman Polanski's The Pianist and Paul Verhoeven's Black Book. And the German Die Welle is a must-watch.
Rating: 7 /10

Wall-E (2008)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2008
	Director: Andrew Stanton (A Bug's Life, Finding Nemo, Finding Dory, John Carter)
	Actors (voices): Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, Sigourney Weaver
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, SF
	Conditions of visioning: 24.02.2017, VOD, 11" tablet screen
Synopsis: The compacting robot Wall-E is alone on a deserted Earth, until a visiting ship and the probe Eve wrecks havoc to his routine.
Review: I found the incredibly touching character of the anthropomorphic Wall-E different from the other Pixar anthropomorphic toys, bugs, fishes, monsters and cars in that it is a hero that doesn't speak, which made it all the most difficult for the animators to convey emotion, and the result all the most gratifying. The movie is surprising in many other regards: a long introduction (although not as touching as the one of Up), almost no spoken dialogs apart from commercial announcements until half the movie, and an self-criticism that I didn't know common in Americans, in the way they criticize their way of life with more food, getting fat, driving cars, no social contacts, buying large, large corporations... But I have already been surprised by how Pixar talked about food in Ratatouille. Beyond the animation of the characters the whole movie is visualy stunning: from Earth's desert to the depth of space, we are transported by the camera movements. The whole movie revolves around the cute little robot and his human feelings of curiosity, loneliness, search for love... Pixar's animators nailed perfectly the design of this little guy. Around him revolve a galaxy of secondary characters no less interesting; Eve, the bug, the captain, the defective robots, M-O... making Wall-E one of the greatest successes of the company before it was bought by Disney and I could say pessimistically lost its soul.
Rating: 8 /10

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (2015)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2015
	Director: Jeremy Coon, Tim Skousen
	Actors: Chris Strompolos, Eric Zala, Jayson Lamb
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 24.02.2017, VOD, 40" TV
Synopsis: In 1982, a bunch of 11 years old start the ambitious project of re-shooting scene by scene a movies they have just been fascinated with in the theater: Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Review: The true story of those kids is amazing: they spent all of their free time for six years filming this homage entitled Raider of the Lost Ark: the Adaptation, reminding me of the genius Peter Jackson who also spent many a summer directing his Bad Taste. What happened after they completed the movie is also touching: how they lost contact, went very different ways and all but forgot about their creation. The end product is of poor quality (simple re-creation of the scenes with little details, parts filmed on VHS, amateur actors aging from one scene to the next...) but fascinating to people like Eli Roth (director of Cabin Fever, Hostel 1-2 and The Green Inferno, played in Piranha 3D and Inglorious Basterds, produced The Last Exorcism and Grindhouse, and personal friend to Quentin Tarantino) who apparently kind of re-discovered it when showing it to a cinema room full of hardcore movie lovers. The Documentary alternates in a very predictable manner between interviews, a few scenes of the movie including behind-the-scenes of some very dangerous stunts, and the recent story of the three friends re-united to film the one missing scene to their adaptation (the one of the plane explosion) after collecting enough money on Kickstarter. One can't help but being touched when we see them in front of a standing ovation after showing the movie, or when they are invited to meet Steven Spielberg who tells them that they inspire him.
Rating: 5 /10

Chaos on the Bridge (2014)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2014
	Director: William Shatner
	Actors: William Shatner, Patrick Steward
	Country: USA, CDN
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: 24.02.2017, VOD, 40" TV
Synopsis: Writer and director of this documentary William Shatner (playing Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek series and movies) reconstructs the chaotic story behind the second series The Next Generations.
Review: I am not a Trekkie but I know the legend, I have seen all the movies and the documentary The Captains present on the Blu-ray set, and recently the other Documentary For the Love of Spock available on Netflix like this Chaos on the Bridge. There probably exist countless Documentaries and TV-specials about the cult series and its sequels/spin-offs, and this one focuses on the harsh beginnings of the first series produced after the original: Star Trek: The Next Generation that started in 1987 and that stars Patrick Steward (Professor X in the X-men series) as captain Picard. Some of the many difficulties behind the creation of the series were its low budget, the presence of original creator Gene Roddenberry and his uncommon ideas, his nosy lawyer, the large turn-over in the writer's cast, and the power games between different participants in this whole charade. So the real story is interesting but as usual with Documentaries I have to try to judge it on its own qualities. The main quality of Chaos on the Bridge is that the stories of conflicts are told without double talk (langue de bois) which is rare in Cinema where usually everything is perfect and everybody is friendly. The interviews hosted by Shatner are interleaved with extracts of the series and some animated events reconstitution which make it pleasant to watch, also because it lasts only an hour. The Documentary focuses on the character of Roddenberry among others and on the chaotic creation of the series and its first two seasons, to pass very quickly on the five following ones which apparently reaches excellence. I am almost tempted to start watching the series even knowing that I have to first go through two painful seasons and spend in total some 100 hours to watch it all... maybe not yet...
Rating: 5 /10

Narcos - Season 2 (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Creators: Carlo Bernard, Chris Brancato, Doug Miro, Paul Eckstein
	Actors: Wagner Moura (Elite Squad 1-2, Elysium), Boyd Holbrook, Pedro Pascal (The Adjustment Bureau, Game of Thrones TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Polar, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: January 2016, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: After escaping from his golden jail, Pablo Escobar (Moura) has to stay hidden while continuing to run his empire threatened by his former allies.
Review: After a monumental first season that I watched last year, I was eager to see how the story of Pablo continued and ended. Having this done in a second season and not dragged over many was a good idea from the creators. Two more seasons are in the pipeline, with less and less attachment to reality, so I don't know if they will be worth watching. But for now, this second season starts slowly with the characters we already know and introduces new ones that fight to fill in the gap left by a Pablo struggling to maintain power while hidden. While the first season was following his rise to power over many years, this one is really more about the hunt for Pablo and his downfall, with in parallel the atrocities committed by the group known as Los Pepes. It shows a crumbling empire (especially at the end) but still with enough energy to continue with the corruption, murders, terrorist attacks. Again, the true sad story of Columbia didn't need any exaggeration there. The drama is still well written, in particular the season highlight in Episode 4: The Good, the Bad and the Dead. Unfortunately I have later learned that this part never actually happened. The noticeable characters in this season are of course Pablo (we witness his state of mind as things get out of hand) and more importantly his wife Tata who has evolved from a discreet role in the first season, in the shadow of her husband, to a strong woman in this one. You get to see all kind of characters: good guys that stay good, good that turn to a darker side to find an evil enemy, bad that remain bad and bad that question what they do, although not many of them. An unmissable complement to the first season.
Rating: 7 /10

Ne nous fâchons pas! (1966)

	Also Known As: Nimm's leicht - Nimm Dynamit,
	Year of first release: 1966
	Director: Georges Lautner
	Actors: Lino Ventura, Michel Constantin, Jean Lefebvre, Mireille Darc
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy, Polar
	Conditions of visioning: 10.02.2017, Bluray, French version
Synopsis: Antoine (Ventura) helps two former acquaintances escape the country, who repay him with a debt transfer. All he has to do is collect from some Léonard Michalon (Lefebvre), but for that he will have to go into much trouble to keep the man alive. On the way he involves his old friend Jeff (Constantin). And meets Michalon's wife Églantine (Darc).
Review: The last part of my box with Georges Lautner movies. After Les tontons flingueurs and Les barbouzes, this movie keeps the same recipe to put gangsters in such situations that they can only be ridiculous and hilarious.  This story is more complex than the two other movies. At least more things happen. The movie makes fun of the trendiness of Great Britain in the 70s, for the clothes and the music. And actually it uses the best of this trendy stuff to bring very funny scenes in the story. The club of british gangsters are continuously wearing hats and uniforms. And they play guitar! On the other side, the conservative Frenchies take care of their looser companions, of their friends, they like fine food and drinks. There are some running gags that never fail: the guitars, the hats, the slaps to Michalon. The acting is quite good. Lino Ventura plays one typical character for him. Michel Constantin and Mireille Darc are very good in their roles.  In the cinematorgraphy, the visuals and the cut, Georges Lautner improved a lot since Les tontons flingueurs . Ne nous fâchons pas! does not get better than this movie only because Les tontons flingueurs were for me the first hilarious comedy with gangsters. I have to investigate in other directors of the 20s and 30s to be sure about it.
Rating: 7 /10