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THE BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 1999
North American Films at the 49th Berlinale
At the 49th Berlin International Film Festival, there will again be a large number of productions
from North America in the Official Program. As true of the entries from Europe, this year's
selection will present works by prominent past masters alongside new discoveries.
Distributors and producers have announced that a large number of their directors and actors
will attend the Berlinale.
Director Tony Bui will show his first work: Three Seasons. Set against the backdrop of a
country whose wounds from war have not yet healed, this film in three episodes tells about an
American GI who is searching for his daughter in contemporary Vietnam. This first US film to
be produced in Vietnam was made possible by the personal efforts of Harvey Keitel, who is
both the leading actor and the producer, as well as by financial support from Sundance
Institute. Aside from Keitel, Don Duong and Zoe Bui play the protagonists.
Another discovery is John Madden's Shakespeare In Love, a romantic comedy set in
London in 1593 when William Shakespeare was writing his play Romeo and Julia. Gwyneth
Paltrow, Ben Affleck, Joseph Fiennes and Judi Densch bring to life the initial difficulties and
conflicts which the theater was undergoing in those days.
Director Willard Carroll, who is to date little known outside the USA, presents an
overwhelming number of top stars in Playing By Heart. The film is a mosaic of interrelated
storylines about diverse relationships between different generations in an array of situations.
Brilliant performances are given by Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands, Dennis Quaid, Ellen
Burstyn, Madeleine Stowe, Nastassja Kinski, Gillian Anderson as well as by the
up-and-coming talent Ryan Philippe, amongst others.
It is quite uncommon for a British director to penetrate as deeply into American culture as
Stephen Frears has succeeded in doing with his film The Hi-Lo Country. Inspired by a novel
by Max Evans, a 'post-Western' set in 1946, Frears tells the story of a family, and gives this
classic film genre an entirely new angle. Performances by Woody Harrelson, Billy Crudup,
Patricia Arquette and Penelope Cruz support Frears in his efforts.
Another form of the 'American way of life' is shown by Alan Rudolph in his screen adaptation
of Kurt Vonnegut's best-seller Breakfast Of Champions. This satire about a car dealer - who
is trying to improve business by making some TV ads - stars Bruce Willis alongside Nick
Nolte, Albert Finney and Barbara Hershey.
In 8 MM - Eight Millimeter, successful director Joel Schumacher takes us off into the
subculture of the world of pornography. For Nicolas Cage, who plays private eye Tom Welles,
a routine case turns into a grueling hunt. The film also features the young and very talented
Joaquin Phoenix.
In Cookie's Fortune, Robert Altman uses a sudden death as the starting point for describing
comic situations in a small town in the South. The director subtly draws the viewers deeper
and deeper into the psyches of his figures. Glenn Close, Julianne Moore, Liv Tyler and Lyle
Lovett play the main parts in Altman's most recent work.
With The Thin Red Line, cult director Terrence Malick celebrates his comeback to cinema
after more than twenty years. Inspired by a novel by James Jones focusing on the conflicts at
Guadalcanal in 1942, Malick redefines the war film genre and makes an unambiguous
statement about the senselessness of war. The cast includes stars such as Nick Nolte, Sean
Penn, John Travolta and Woody Harrelson, alongside a large number of promising newcomers
such as Jim Caviezel and Ben Chaplin.
Two films from Canada will participate in the Competition.
eXistenZ, a production from Toronto by director David Cronenberg, takes developments of
computer games to their logical end. A story evolves in which the line between reality and
fiction blurs. Actors Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh as well as Willem Dafoe embark on this
nightmarish journey into virtual worlds.
A Canadian by choice, Léa Pool represents French-speaking Canada. With autobiographical
touches in Emporte-moi, she recalls a childhood in Montreal of the Sixties. The film-maker,
who is originally from Switzerland, sensitively portrays a young headstrong girl's search for
independence.
At a special screening hors concours in Zoo Palast movie theater, the Berlinale will present
One True Thing by Carl Franklin and The Faculty by Robert Rodriguez:
Carl Franklin's One True Thing describes the conflict between a father and daughter when
the mother becomes incurably ill with cancer. Meryl Streep, William Hurt and Renée
Zellweger play the leads in this family drama.
With The Faculty, cult-director Robert Rodriguez continues his eerie visions of monsters and
aliens: this time, they haunt an American high school. Lovers of this genre can take an
entertaining horror trip with Elijah Wood, Laura Harris and Salma Hayek.
In the PANORAMA section, six more productions complete North America's participation in
the Official Program of the 49th Berlinale.
Amos Kollek - memory of his hit "Sue" in last year's Panorama is still vivid - describes in
Fiona the forlornness of life as a whore and junkie in New York's most depressing locations.
As in "Sue", this film also stars Anna Thomson.
Gus Van Sant, this time as producer, will present the debut film Speedway Junky. In this
romantic film, director Nickolas Perry depicts the dramatic attempt made by a boy named
Johnny to realize his dreams with the help of his friends in Las Vegas.
Romantic but complicated are also the 24 hours in the life of a young New York homosexual.
Trick, Jim Fall's first film, has been produced by the legendary New York film factory Good
Machine ("The Wedding Banquet").
In Palmer's Pick-Up: An American Roadshow Odyssey, Christopher Coppola shows us
two chaotic furniture movers driving with a load of hot goods across the rather wacky
hinterlands between California and Florida.
In Better Than Chocolate, Canadian Anne Wheeler has young Maggie experience her first
love with Kim - a girl. But Maggie's attempt to establish a life of her own becomes quite
complicated when her mother and little brother move in with her.
What caused a scandal and excitement in the Fifties can today be seen as highly amusing:
in the Canadian production Beefcake, director Thom Fitzgerald ("The Hanging Garden") takes
a deeper look into the story of the Athletic Model Guild of America and its star photographer
Robert Mizer. Fitzgerald is supported in his efforts by former star model Joe Dallesandra.
January 26, 1999
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