Photo by Niko Tavernise, courtesy of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Catch Joker in Berlin cinemas now!
International festival Dokuarts starts today and, until the 27th at the Zeughauskino of the Deutsches Historisches Museum, the festival will once again showcase the diversity and experimental nature of the documentary genre with 25 films from 17 different countries. It kicks off tonight (Oct 10) at 20:00 with the screening of Paul Wright’s experimental documentary Arcadia, which features a wonderfully evocative soundtrack from members of Portishead and Goldfrapp.
For this weekend, our main tip is to head down to Arsenal for the start of their Lynne Ramsay retrospective… With the Scottish filmmaker in attendance! Starting on Saturday (Oct 12) at 20:00, we’re being treated to a 35mm projection of her 1999 feature debut Ratcatcher, followed by the fantastic Morvern Callar, featuring Samantha Morton, on Sunday (Oct 13) at 19:30. Both are essential viewing.
As for this week’s film releases, there’s no escaping the main one… Brace yourselves for Joker. Since its debut at the Venice Film Festival, this dark reinvention of Batman’s enigmatic arch nemesis has dominated headlines. Nihilistic masterpiece or juvenile Scorsese rip-off (or a bit of both)? One thing’s for sure: it won’t leave you indifferent. We attended the press conference straight after the film’s premiere – make sure to check out the interview with director Todd Phillips.
Elsewhere, there’s survival horror flick 47 Meters Down: Uncaged, the sequel to 2017’s underwater B-movie. And if sharks or seemingly never-ending nihilism courtesy of Joaquin Phoenix in clown make-up isn’t your thing, you could do a lot worse than to watch Dora and the Lost City of Gold. Much better than it had any right to be, this live action adaptation of the Nickelodeon TV show Dora The Explorer is a familiar but charming Indiana Jones-riffing adventure that should delight the tweens and pleasantly surprise more seasoned viewers.
Looking ahead to next week, don’t miss the start of our special Exblicks Korean month at Lichtblick Kino. Join us on Tuesday (Oct 15) at 19:00 for a screening of Park Chan-wook’s erotic psychological thriller The Handmaiden, with pre-screening Korean-snacks to boot!
Also keep your eyes peeled for Berlin Film Society’s autumn programme, Road Tripping, dedicated to the surreal highway in cinema. It’s a fantastically curated line-up that features films by Oliver Stone, David Lynch, Panos Cosmatos and Leos Carax. It kicks off on the Oct 17 at Factory Berlin in Görlitzer Park with Alejandro Jodorowsky’s legendary “lost film”, the avant-garde and trippy Western El Topo.
