Berlin25 · cinema

Film review: Blue Moon

 It’s been thirty years since the first collaboration between actor Ethan Hawke and filmmaker Richard Linklater, when they began working on the now beloved ‘Before’ trilogy. They have reunited for period piece Blue Moon which, like a lot of the director’s work, takes place across one day – or one evening in this case to be more specific.

 Set almost entirely in a New York City bar in 1943, the historical snapshot plot centres around troubled lyricist Lorenz Hart (Hawke) after he attends the opening night of stage musical Oklahoma! on Broadway. Feeling bitter about his writing partner Richard Rodgers’ (Andrew Scott) success in his new duo with Oscar Hammerstein II, he distracts himself and everyone else around him by regaling them with stories of his infatuation for Elizabeth Weiland (Margaret Qualley), a 20-year-old student who he claims is his latest protégé.

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Berlin25 · Features

Top 5 Must-See Movies of Berlinale 2025

This year marks the 75th edition of the Berlin International Film Festival, often referred to simply as Berlinale. It’s set to be a star-studded 11 days of cinema with festival favourite Tilda Swinton announced to collect an Honorary Golden Bear award and Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet in attendance to celebrate the German premiere of James Mangold’s Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown. I will be covering the event for the very first time, and have picked out five pieces from the programme that I have my eye on…

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DVD & Digital

Film review: La Cocina

 As central locations go, restaurants have proven themselves to be hotbeds of big screen drama in recent years with the success of films such as Boiling Point, The Menu, and The Taste of Things and writer and director Alonso Ruizpalacios has put his own artistic spin on this recipe for his New York-based piece, La Cocina.

 Based on the 1957 stage play by Arnold Wesker, the plot follows a group of colleagues at tourist trap Times Square eatery The Grill during a hectic lunch service. After some cash goes missing from the register and a broken drinks machine causes a flood, tensions rise between cook Pedro (Raúl Briones), waiter Julia (Rooney Mara), new start Estela (Anna Diaz) and the rest of the staff.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: A Complete Unknown

 Twenty years on from his critically acclaimed Johnny Cash picture, writer and director James Mangold returns to the musical biopic sub-genre with 1960s drama A Complete Unknown. Based on the 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald, the plot follows a young Bob Dylan (Timothée Chalamet) on his sudden rise to fame. Arriving in New York with nothing but his guitar, he begins a relationship with Sylvie Russo (Elle Fanning) then after meeting fellow singers Pete Seeger (Edward Norton) and Woody Guthrie (Scoot McNairy), he is welcomed into the city’s bohemian folk scene.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: A Real Pain

Anxiety and mental health issues have become part of our daily conversations on the trials and tribulations of modern life. In his sophomore directorial effort, actor-turned-filmmaker Jesse Eisenberg pits these challenges against the backdrop of acknowledging the trauma of his own ancestors in comedy drama A Real Pain. The plot follows estranged Jewish cousins David (played by Eisenberg himself) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) as they embark on a trip to Poland to honour their late grandmother. Throughout the tour, the pair both bond and bicker as they navigate their grief in different ways.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Better Man

The musician biographical drama is a subgenre that has become increasingly saturated of late, with Elton John, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Bob Marley, and Bob Dylan among others having their stories told on the big screen within the past five years. The latest in the category is Better Man, which tells the rags to riches tale of controversial pop performer Robbie Williams who rose to fame in boyband Take That before embarking on a successful solo career. Directed by Australian visual artist turned filmmaker Michael Gracey, known for his work on the Greatest Showman, there’s a trick that separates this biopic from the rest – the star is portrayed as a CGI-animated monkey.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Queer

A key figure of the Beat Generation movement, author William S. Burroughs was known for his experimental and often controversial literature. Romantic drama Queer is based on his 1985 novella of the same name and is directed by Luca Guadagnino, a filmmaker that’s no stranger to a taboo topic himself. Set in 1950s Mexico City, the plot follows middle-aged American expat William Lee (Daniel Craig) who lives a lonely existence in and around his local bars. His spirits are lifted when young intellectual Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey) arrives in town, but his pursuit of a meaningful connection is mired by his dependency to opioids.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: We Live in Time

 Folding a ‘weepie’ into the cosy comfort of the British romcom genre, We Live in Time is the latest feature from John Crowley, an Irish director perhaps best known for his work on 2015 period piece Brookyln. His non-linear plot follows the relationship between thriving chef Almut (Florence Pugh) and downtrodden divorcée Tobias (Andrew Garfield) over the course of a decade, cutting between humour and heartache as their lives in modern-day London are rocked by a cancer diagnosis.

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DVD & Digital

Film review: Grand Theft Hamlet

While many of us baked countless loaves of banana bread, learned new musical instruments, or binged our favourite boxsets, some used the COVID lockdowns as an opportunity to explore more off-piste creative endeavours. For British actors Sam Crane and Mark Oosterveen, a period of unemployment led them to a very unusual undertaking in 2021 where they attempted to stage a production of Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet within the unhinged virtual world of the Grand Theft Auto Online videogame. Co-written and directed by Crane and his filmmaker wife Pinny Grylls, who joined them on their mission, the documentary Grand Theft Hamlet illustrates their efforts.

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