“Babylon Berlin: Season One” is the beginning of a complex political crime period drama that has run for four seasons in Germany, with a fifth yet to come. It’s won a scheisse-load of awards and nominations for the series and many of its components, and is best appreciated by concentrated viewing – preferably in binges – rather than casual or background entertainment.
It’s set in 1929. Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) is an honest, intelligent cop who has just moved to the titular city. He’s paired with Burno Wolter (Peter Kurth), a brutish fellow detective of questionable virtue. The former looks like mellowed version of Tim Roth; the latter somewhere between Gert Frobe and Simon Oakland. The crimes they’re assigned to cover seem local, but lead quickly down the rabbit hole of international intrigue, overrun with individual and group conflicts, misdirection and betrayals, spanning from Russia to Germany and beyond.
It’s set in 1929. Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) is an honest, intelligent cop who has just moved to the titular city. He’s paired with Burno Wolter (Peter Kurth), a brutish fellow detective of questionable virtue. The former looks like mellowed version of Tim Roth; the latter somewhere between Gert Frobe and Simon Oakland. The crimes they’re assigned to cover seem local, but lead quickly down the rabbit hole of international intrigue, overrun with individual and group conflicts, misdirection and betrayals, spanning from Russia to Germany and beyond.
- 4/15/2024
- by Mark Glass
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
On the JoBlo Movies YouTube channel, we will be posting one full movie every day of the week, giving viewers the chance to watch them entirely free of charge. The Free Movie of the Day we have for you today is the 2018 Russian sci-fi action movie A Rough Draft. You can watch the movie over on the YouTube channel linked above, or you can just watch it in the embed at the top of this article.
Directed by Sergey Mokritskiy, who also crafted the screenplay with Maksim Budarin, Denis Kuryshev, and Olga Sobenina (based on a novel by Night Watch author Sergey Lukyanenko), A Rough Draft has the following synopsis: A young resident of Moscow, Kirill is a talented designer of computer games. One day, he is completely erased from the memory of everyone he knew and loved. Kirill learns that he is chosen for an important and mysterious mission.
Directed by Sergey Mokritskiy, who also crafted the screenplay with Maksim Budarin, Denis Kuryshev, and Olga Sobenina (based on a novel by Night Watch author Sergey Lukyanenko), A Rough Draft has the following synopsis: A young resident of Moscow, Kirill is a talented designer of computer games. One day, he is completely erased from the memory of everyone he knew and loved. Kirill learns that he is chosen for an important and mysterious mission.
- 3/1/2023
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Cinema is a vehicle for investigating historical scars in “Isaac,” a starkly beautiful drama about a filmmaker who returns to his native Lithuania in 1964 to make a movie about a WWII slaughter, and becomes embroiled alongside his schoolmate in totalitarian trouble. Adapted from a short story by Antanas Skema, director Jurgis Matulevicius’ feature debut — Lithuania’s entry to the Oscar international feature race — is Its obliqueness may preclude it from attracting a wide domestic audience, but such haziness is part and parcel of a work about the lingering, lethal fog of war.
“Isaac” opens with the 1941 Lietukis garage massacre of 40 Lithuanian Jews at the hands of Nazis and their local mob-like collaborators. Shot in sumptuous black and white (as is two-thirds of the ensuing film), and with the sort of roving, wobbly, serpentine camerawork favored throughout by Matulevicius and talented cinematographer Narvydas Naujalis, this scene evokes the grimy brutality of “Son of Saul,...
“Isaac” opens with the 1941 Lietukis garage massacre of 40 Lithuanian Jews at the hands of Nazis and their local mob-like collaborators. Shot in sumptuous black and white (as is two-thirds of the ensuing film), and with the sort of roving, wobbly, serpentine camerawork favored throughout by Matulevicius and talented cinematographer Narvydas Naujalis, this scene evokes the grimy brutality of “Son of Saul,...
- 11/23/2021
- by Nick Schager
- Variety Film + TV
Jurgis Matulevicius: 'The camerawork and lighting are very important to me and I spent a lot of time on that' Photo: Courtesy of Tallinn Black Nights The present is haunted by the past in Jurgis Matulevicius' smart and complex debut film, that mixes Cold War elements and soul-searching with a love triangle plotline and psychological thriller. It centres on a trio of of characters, film director Gediminas (Dainius Gavenonis), his old friend Andrius (Aleksas Kazanavicius) and Andrius' wife Elena (Severija Janusauskaite), whose lives are tied up to a lesser or greater degree with the death of a Jewish man, Isaac, in the Lietukis Garage Massacre. The film is adapted from a short story by Antanas Skema, a Lithuanian author whose stream of consciousness approach you can feel in the fluidity of Isaac's narrative.
When we caught up with Matulevicius in Tallinn - where his film screened in the First...
When we caught up with Matulevicius in Tallinn - where his film screened in the First...
- 12/20/2019
- by Amber Wilkinson
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Olias Barco shooting Polina with international cast.
Ukraine’s reputation as a location for international shoots has been given a welcome boost this week as production begins on the English-language family adventure-fantasy Polina by the French-Belgian director Olias Barco (Kill Me Please) in Kyiv.
The cast of the co-production between the Belgian-French company Wild Tribe Films and Ukraine’s Film.UA features an international cast including German-born Canadian actor Saul Rubinek, Audrey Marnay (The Monuments Men), Virgile Bramly (Inception), Wim Willaert (When The Sea Rises), Daniel Cohen (Le Chef) and Severija Janusauskaite (The Star), with the French DoP Thierry Arbogast, known for his collaboration with Luc Besson on such films as The Fifth Element and Lucy, behind the camera.
Ukrainian child actor Polina Pechenenko is cast in the title role as a 11-year-old girl setting off on a magical journey in search of the truth about her lost parents.
Shooting is located at the Film.UA studios...
Ukraine’s reputation as a location for international shoots has been given a welcome boost this week as production begins on the English-language family adventure-fantasy Polina by the French-Belgian director Olias Barco (Kill Me Please) in Kyiv.
The cast of the co-production between the Belgian-French company Wild Tribe Films and Ukraine’s Film.UA features an international cast including German-born Canadian actor Saul Rubinek, Audrey Marnay (The Monuments Men), Virgile Bramly (Inception), Wim Willaert (When The Sea Rises), Daniel Cohen (Le Chef) and Severija Janusauskaite (The Star), with the French DoP Thierry Arbogast, known for his collaboration with Luc Besson on such films as The Fifth Element and Lucy, behind the camera.
Ukrainian child actor Polina Pechenenko is cast in the title role as a 11-year-old girl setting off on a magical journey in search of the truth about her lost parents.
Shooting is located at the Film.UA studios...
- 11/5/2015
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Alexander Kott’s love story [pictured] awarded the Grand Prix and the prize for best cinematography.
Alexander Kott’s Test was the big winner at this year’s Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The jury headed by Cannes prize-winner Andrey Zvyagintsev awarded its Grand Prix “for the realisation of the dream” and the prize for best cinematography to Kott’s love story, set against the first hydrogen bomb tests in the Kazakh Steppe at the beginning of the 50s.
In addition, Kott’s film received the Elephant Trophy from the Guild of Film Critics and Film Scholars.
Test is handled internationally by Anton Mazurov’s fledgling Russian sales company Ant!pode Sales & Distribution, which saw its other three new titles by four women directors coming away from this year’s Kinotavr with trophies and diplomas in their luggage:
Anna Melikian’s Star received the prizes for best direction and best actress...
Alexander Kott’s Test was the big winner at this year’s Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
The jury headed by Cannes prize-winner Andrey Zvyagintsev awarded its Grand Prix “for the realisation of the dream” and the prize for best cinematography to Kott’s love story, set against the first hydrogen bomb tests in the Kazakh Steppe at the beginning of the 50s.
In addition, Kott’s film received the Elephant Trophy from the Guild of Film Critics and Film Scholars.
Test is handled internationally by Anton Mazurov’s fledgling Russian sales company Ant!pode Sales & Distribution, which saw its other three new titles by four women directors coming away from this year’s Kinotavr with trophies and diplomas in their luggage:
Anna Melikian’s Star received the prizes for best direction and best actress...
- 6/9/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.