Melanie Joosten
The Pundit 2006 Reviews »
Director Detlev Buck holds his audience in a headlock throughout his compelling film, Tough Enough, which explores unflinchingly, and without sentiment, the seedy side of Berlin. When 15-year-old Michael’s mother is dumped by her doctor boyfriend, the pair find themselves confined to a boxy apartment, living in a rundown area of inner Berlin. Within hours of starting school, Michael (David Kross) becomes the target of malicious violence that goes well beyond schoolyard bullying.
Michael inhabits a world where gangs demand money from mothers with prams, and violence occurs in crowded streets …
The Pundit 2006 Reviews »
A collection of six short films from young Eastern European directors, Lost and Found explores the intermingled ideas of generations and relationships. An air of dread and anxiety pervades each of the films though the tension is relieved by segments of the animated film Gene + Ratio by Estonian artist Mait Laas that bookend each of the films.
In The Ritual (Nadejda Koseva, Bulgaria) a woman races the clock to organise an elaborate wedding party in the yard of a farmhouse. The meticulous preparations of this ceremony’ recognised the world over’are …
|