Someone to watch over me ... El
Custodio
Film-maker Lucy Muss joins the starlets, hacks and industry bigwigs placing their bets at the Berlin film festival.
As the Berlinale draws to a close this Sunday, speculation is rife as to who will get their paws on the coveted Golden Bear. With only 19 films eligible for the prize the competition is hot. Winterbottom, a previous winner with In This World, stands a strong chance with his latest co-directed feature The Road to Guantanamo, which uses archive footage, interviews and reconstruction to trace the harrowing journey of the wrongly arrested Tipton Three. The other critics' favourite is Robert Altman's A Prairie Home Companion, starring veterans Meryl Streep and Woody Harrelson, about events backstage on a popular US radio show.
In previous years, gems such as Before Sunset and Head On were screened in the final days of the festival - to the surprise and delight of weary critics. The same could well happen this year with Requiem. The word on the market circuit is that this dark German thriller about exorcism is a strong frontrunner. The press screening will take place later today, so watch this space.
It was more a sign of festival fatigue than a reflection of the quality of Argentinian feature El Custodio that a fellow viewer snoozed her way through the entire screening. This patient film by Rodrigo Moreno, although Beckettian in pace, is a perfect example of a wonderfully crafted picture that has no commercial value. It is seen through the eyes of a bodyguard who follows his politician employer like a well-trained dog: he sits, waits and watches. His identity becomes the protective shadow of another man's life, always living on the margin and in the corridor. We admire the voiceless face of the custodian, and catch snatches of the many unpleasant faces of his boss who is slowly revealed to be a traitor and sycophant. The films ends with a powerful new beginning signified by a gunshot, but I'll leave you to find out its intended target.
It is inspiring to see esoteric low-budget films such as Tough Enough (a strong urban study of violence with an unforgettable final scene) from German director Detlev Buck, and Love Sick (a sweet, tender film about young female love) from Romanian director Tudor Giurgiu, sitting side by side with daring, but not necessarily watchable, directorial debuts such as Running on Empty by Bulent Akinci. To see all this also alongside the work of established greats such as Altman, Winterbottom, Lumet and Gondry, and stars such as Natalie Portman (V For Vendetta) Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote) and Isabelle Huppert, and to catch sight of Charlotte Rampling at the Ritz, is, quite frankly, rather wonderful.
~ Read the first instalment of Lucy's blog here.
