BFF3: Cops and lawyers

My first full day at the Berlinale was a busy one - dashing from film to film, with only a half hour free here and there. I'm starting to dig into the Panorama programme - which is the section my jury is looking at. There are 48 films (no way we can see all of them) in amazing variety - and this is the 30th year of Panorama, so there are some special screenings too. The atmosphere is great fun - screenings are full, and it feels like the whole city (well, this section of it) is movie mad! Here's what I saw...

Storm
dir Hans-Christian Schmid 09/Ger ****
Kerry Fox is terrific in this Euro-thriller about a war crimes tribunal at The Hague, struggling to keep the case alive after the key witness lies under oath. From here, the courtroom tension is deepened with an unsettling look at the evils of war and the just-as-awful way these things are covered up in the name of politics. Anamaria Marinca (4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days) is terrific as a woman who reluctantly agrees to speak the truth.

In the Electric Mist
dir Bertrand Tavernier 09/US ****
Southern gothic noir as directed by a veteran French filmmaker with an ace American cast led by Tommy Lee Jones in a twist on his usual sardonic detective mode. Set in Louisiana, where young girls are being killed, old skeletons are found in the swamps, and a big movie star couple (Peter Sarsgaard and Kelly Macdonald) are making a movie, the film has a surreal twist as the past invades the present in provocative ways that add to the central mystery.

Bellamy
dir Chaude Chabrol 09/Fr ***
The master of understated suspense is back with another muted thriller, this time starring Gerard Depardieu as an optimistic detective on vacation who can't help but get involved in a case that seems to be being botched by his rival. It's talky and a bit strange, but keeps us gripped as the plot circles around the characters. We never have a clue what might happen next, and the whole cast delivers intriguing, insinuating performances.

High Life
dir Gary Yates 09/Can ****
Timothy Olyphant leads a bunch of opium-addicted ex-cons (Rossif Sutherland, Joe Anderson, Stephen Erik McIntosh) on a bank heist that would be pretty clever if they weren't all so wasted. The result is very, very funny, and also sometimes painfully tragic as these sharp young men dull their wits and look likely to destroy their lives over the course of one disastrous day. A lively and entertaining film. Yates and his cast were at the screening, which they said was the first public screening in the world, for a very surreal Q&A.

BFF2: Hit the ground running

Finally made it to Berlin today, after an abbreviated night of sleep back home (interrupted by my regular 20-minute slot on BBC Five Live, which should have been a Live From Berlin slot last night, ahem). Anyway, despite more snow in Britain this morning, City Airport was clear and we took off only an hour or so late.

I headed straight for the middle of the festival at Potsdamer Platz, to make the first meeting of the Fipresci Jury, and as I got out of the car my first view was of Kate Winslet running the gauntlet of paparazzi and fans on her way into the press centre. After the meeting I headed to my hotel, then back up to Potsdamer to look around. The press centre is a bit on the cramped side, and there's no wi-fi at all, so I will only be able to update this blog late, late at night when I get back to my room. I did manage to see two films...

Human Zoo
dir-scr Rie Rasmussen 09/Fr ****
This fascinatingly bold drama centres on a woman (played by writer-director Rasmussen, who starred in Luc Besson's Angel-A) reliving her horrific past during the ethnic cleansing war in Kosovo as she tries to reassemble her life in Marseilles. Stylish and energetic, with a fiercely feminist attitude, it's a clever look at the issue of refugees mixed with an examination of how much of our identity comes from our nationality. It's a bit populist and Besson-like, but keeps you thinking. Rasmussen and her costar Nick Corey were at the screening for a perhaps too-chatty Q&A.

White Lightnin'
dir Dominic Murphy 09/UK ***
An intriguingly dark and twisted story set in West Virginia, this British-made film takes the true story of Jesco White and spins it into a grisly fiction about a man (played by Edward Hogg) addicted to lighter fluid and other things, who splits his brain into multiple personalities as a lover, an avenging angel and Elvis. It gets increasingly gruesome as it goes - and some of the acting and storytelling isn't hugely believable. But there's a wonderful role for Carrie Fisher, and it's so unhinged that we never have a clue where it will go next. Murphy, Hogg and a series of writers, producers and crew members (the film was shot in the US and Croatia) took the stage for a fascinating Q&A afterwards - especially when they recounted anecdotes about the real Jesco, who sounds a lot more full-on than the movie character.

London Critics night

As promised, here I am with Dame Judi Dench, recipient of the London Critics' Circle Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film on Wednesday, 4 Feb, at the Grosvenor House. Other winners on hand to collect their awards were Kristin Scott Thomas (British Actress), Eddie Marsan (Supporting Actor), Darren Aronofsky (Film of the Year), Danny Boyle (British Director and British Film), Steve McQueen (Breakthrough Filmmaker), Thomas Turgoose (Young Performer).

And we had specially taped thank yous from Kate Winslet (Actress), Mickey Rourke (Actor), Tilda Swinton (Supporting Actress) and David Fincher (Director). Meanwhile, celebrities present included Ben Kingsley, Dev Patel, Nicholas Hoult, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong and Mike Leigh. All in all a lively and enjoyable evening, as usual. Here's the full list of winners:

FILM OF THE YEAR

The Wrestler

THE ATTENBOROUGH AWARD: BRITISH FILM OF THE YEAR

Slumdog Millionaire

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM OF THE YEAR

Waltz With Bashir

DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

BRITISH DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire

ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler

ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Kate Winslet - The Reader and Revolutionary Road

BRITISH ACTOR OF THE YEAR

Michael Fassbender - Hunger

BRITISH ACTRESS OF THE YEAR

Kristin Scott Thomas - I’ve Loved You So Long

BRITISH ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Eddie Marsan - Happy-Go-Lucky

BRITISH ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

Tilda Swinton - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

SCREENWRITER OF THE YEAR

Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire

THE NPCC AWARD: YOUNG BRITISH PERFORMER OF THE YEAR

Thomas Turgoose - Somers Town and Eden Lake

BREAKTHROUGH BRITISH FILM-MAKER

Steve McQueen - Hunger

THE DILYS POWELL AWARD: EXCELLENCE IN FILM

Dame Judi Dench

BFF1: Still in London

I was supposed to be writing this from the opening night of the 59th Berlin Film Festival tonight. But no. After a week of weather-related travel chaos due to heavy snow on Monday, airports were back on schedule today, and the weather wasn't too bad. Alas, shortly after I made my way through security, a plane was stranded on the taxiway with mechanical problems, diverting incoming flights to other airports and leaving all of us stuck. They tried to put me on the next flight - and the one after that - but everything ended up being cancelled, and they eventually sent me home.

So I can't make any comments about the glamour of the red carpet on opening night (the film is The International, which I was supposed to see on Monday but the London screening was cancelled due to the snow).

On the other hand, I was out last night at the London Film Critics' Circle Awards, which was very glamorous, star-studded and great fun too. I plan to have some photos and commentary soon - watch this space.

Anyway, I'll be back at the airport first thing in the morning. But I'm more than a little nervous about reports that it's supposed to snow again tomorrow. Sigh.

Critical Week: Stars in my eyes

This is rather a massive week for me, film wise, as on Wednesday night the London Critics' Circle has its annual film awards dinner. I'm on the organising committee for the event, so it will be great to be there and see all our work finally come to fruition. A lot of nominees will be present, so it'll also be fun to have a social evening with actors and filmmakers we write about all year round.

Then the next day I head off to Berlin for the 59th Berlinale - I'm a member of the jury for the Fipresci Panorama prize. I'm still not sure how many films I have to see, but I know there are a lot I want to see outside the Panorama - so we'll see how it goes. Most of the films are world premieres, so much of Hollywood will be on the scene. And I hope I get invited to some of the parties at least. I'm there for the entire run of the festival, and plan to update this blog daily, so watch this space.

Meanwhile, I have a few screenings before I leave London, including Drew Barrymore's He's Just Not That Into You, which hasn't yet been screened for the press, which may or may not mean something; Jennifer Aniston's doggy drama Marley & Me; and Clive Owen's The International, which also happens to be the opening film in Berlin.

Critical Week: Post-contender blues

It always happens this time of year, just as all of the year's best films are finally landing in cinemas, we film critics are subjected to some of the least notable movies of the year. February release schedules are notoriously underwhelming, as all of the biggies linger in the corners of the multiplexes while box office charts are weighed down by duds. I mean honestly: Paul Blart Mall Cop has been No 1 on the US chart for two weeks now, despite astoundingly bad reviews.

On the other hand, Slumdog Millionaire is storming up the charts in both the US and UK, as well as walking off with every major award it's up for. Here's the cast with their SAG Best Ensemble award. (Best thank you at the SAGs goes to Meryl Streep - look it up on YouTube if you missed it.)

Meanwhile, I've been watching decent but not-great WWII dramas like Tom Cruise's Valkyrie and Viggo Mortensen's Good; the jarring Irish Troubles drama Fifty Dead Men Walking; the bewildering parallel-reality thriller Franklyn; and the slightly dull 19th century period piece The Young Victoria. None of these films are bad - all are worth seeing, but they're perhaps not as satisfying as they should be. It's telling then that the best film I saw last week was the ripping 1949 crime noir Gun Crazy.

This week looks like more of the same, probably, with the Jean Claude Van Damme self-made (and self-titled) JCVD, the Notorious B.I.G. biopic Notorious, the horror remake The Uninvited, and the Greg Kinnear drama Flash of Genius. More interesting are Raymond Depardon's rural doc Modern Life and the live-action Japanese sci-fi fantasy manga 20th Century Boys. Here's hoping...

Critical Week: Britain on the march

It's been a month since my last blog - hope you enjoyed the Christmas and New Year holiday! I know I did, but things are cranking up once again, mainly on the awards season front, as British talent storms its way through, sweeping up an almost ludicrous number of accolades - with Slumdog Millionaire's overall domination echoed in Kate Winslet's double Globe win and double Bafta nomination. Oscar nominations are announced on Thursday, so things are about to get even more crazed. In the meantime, I'm working with the committee to organise the London Critics' Circle Film Awards, which will be handed out at a glitsy dinner ceremony on February 4th.

Meanwhile, my screenings are back up to speed, although this isn't a notoriously promising time of year for movies, as the prestige films are behind us. Over the past week or so, I've had less than thrilling movies like Bride Wars, Hotel for Dogs, My Bloody Valentine 3D, The Unborn and Outlander - although at least all of those have some guilty pleasure value. There have also been more challenging indie or foreign films like Helen, Hannah Takes the Stairs, Three Monkeys and Katyn. Plus rather a lot of interviews at press junkets for Doubt and Milk.

Coming up this next week is Tom Cruise's Valkyrie, which they've finally decided to show to the UK press, Viggo Mortensen in Good, the British period romp The Young Victoria, Ryan Phillippe and Sam Riley in Franklyn and Ben Kingsley in Fifty Dead Men Walking.