Berlinale 2025: First Dispatch

My thoughts on the first batch of films seen at the 75th Berlinale.

Here I am, once more, at the Berlinale, for the fourteenth consecutive time (including the online edition in 2021). As promised earlier, I will be using this space to deliver regular dispatches from the festival, a format I intend to uphold for other film events as well, mainly with capsule reviews of the films I see. Unless otherwise stated, all the movies listed were viewed in cinemas during the festival.

The Light (Das Licht, Berlinale Special – Opening film of the festival)

There’s a bit of irony in calling this film The Light when it basically rains the whole time. It’s arguably also the only truly funny thing about Tom Tykwer’s new drama about a “typical dysfunctional German family”, a 162-minute character study that throws everything but the kitchen sink at the screen, including a musical number and an animated segment. One can tell the director has spent some time as a collaborator of the Wachowski sisters (there are clear echoes of Cloud Atlasand Sense8), and the ambition is commendable, even though the final result is way too scattershot to fully convince. In other words, not too dissimilar from other Berlinale openers, especially during the Dieter Kosslick era.

**1/2

Welcome Home Baby (Panorama – Opening film)

The last time I watched a film by Andreas Prochaska at the Berlinale, I had to leave the theater after fifteen minutes, due to a violent bout of food poisoning. Things went a lot smoother this time around, although the movie isn’t much to write home about. Prochaska – former editor of the films of Michael Haneke – returns to the horror genre with a story of twisted motherhood and legacy, retaining his fascination with bodies of water and isolated houses. Decent performances and some nice visuals, but the script starts going around in circles and treading water (pun not intended) about halfway through, in an attempt to stall the predictable climax which could have arrived 20 minutes earlier.

**

Living the Land (Sheng xi zhi di, Competition)

The socio-economic changes of the early 1990s clash with millennia’s worth of traditions in a rural Chinese village, where the young protagonist is being raised by his extended family while his parents are working far away. A sprawling portrait of country life and familial bonds, driven by naturalistic performances and loving shots of the landscape. Pretty conventional in its approach, and a bit on the longer side in its second half, but there’s plenty to enjoy in this film by Huo Meng, which inaugurated the official Competition for 2025.

***

Hot Milk (Competition)

Screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz (She Said) makes her directorial debut with this ponderous, meandering literary adaptation (based on Deborah Levy’s novel of the same name), where a trip to Spain brings back old resentments between a mother (Fiona Shaw), seeking treatment for her paralysis, and her daughter (Emma Mackey), frustrated by their increasingly ruinous rapport. Vicky Krieps lends the best support she can, but even a trio of solid performances can’t do much to elevate a drama where the emotional impact remains surface-level and the character work is erratic at best.

**

Little Trouble Girls (Kaj ti je deklica, Perspectives)

A new addition to the 2025 festival, Perspectives is a competitive section that hosts first features, with the opening slot given to this interesting debut from Slovenia. Music and self-discovery come together in this simple yet effective coming-of-age story about an introverted teenager whose worldview changes while she’s away from home for a few days to rehearse with a choir. Carefully directed performances and a nuanced script make the first two acts of Urska Djukic’s film quite compelling, and the whole endeavor remains sturdy even as the third act slips into more contrived territory.

***1/2

Growing Down (Minden Rendben, Perspectives)

Another first feature, this time from Hungary. Bálint Dániel Sós flirts with intimate thriller tropes as a widower, having witnessed an incident between his stepdaughter and his son, must decide whether to be forthcoming about it or conceal the truth, even at the cost of what he had been building up with his new partner. The black-and-white cinematography is more pedestrian than stylish, with a sharp script and talented acting ensemble making up for the occasional visual clumsiness.

***

To be continued…

(A reminder: subsequent dispatches will be paywalled)