Saturday was launch day: Callum Turner basked in the spotlight at the Berlinale Palast with his girlfriend Dua Lipa, Pamela Anderson and Jamie Bell. Meanwhile, Charlie xcx thrilled her fans at the Zoo. The actual films almost took a back seat.
And so the first question at the press conference to Callum Turner was not about his Berlinale film, but whether he could comment on the rumours that he would be the next James Bond. Of course he couldn't, whereupon co-star Tracy Letts declared that he would be the next Bond. And so the press conference was more entertaining than the film.
Rosebush Pruning
A glance at the programme confirms it: Rosebush Pruning is indeed in competition. Unfortunately, it doesn't say why. And so this question remains unanswered. The film is clumsily told and overloaded with cheap symbolism.
The focus is on Ed, who tells the story of his rich but dysfunctional family. He lives in Spain with his blind father, his brothers Jack (Jamie Bell) and Robert, and his sister Anna (Riley Keough). The siblings live for the moment, their only interest being fashion and brand names. They are trapped in incestuous desires for each other and their father; their mother (Pamela Anderson) is presumed dead. When Jack, the eldest son, falls in love with the musician Martha (Elle Fanning) and wants to escape the sick family system, the fragile structure collapses ...
Blood, semen and toothpaste come together in a provocative and tasteless mixture in this film. It is somewhat reminiscent of the early work of Pedro Almodóvar and the films of Giorgos Lanthimos (after all , screenwriter Efthymis Filippou also wrote The Lobster) , but falls far short of their class. Nothing works here; the film wants to take a satirical look at family abysses, but remains superficial and annoying.
The Moment
This makes The Moment all the more entertaining – even for people who are not really familiar with the music of English singer Charlie xcx and have only heard of Brat Summer in passing. In any case, these people were in the minority at the Zoo Palast on Saturday evening. The first fans camped out in front of the barriers in the late afternoon and then celebrated their idol loudly in the cinema.
In the mockumentary, Charlie xcx plays a fictionalised version of herself. She rose to stardom with the bright green Brat Summer , but with the end of summer, her success must continue. A concert film by the eccentric director Johannis (played by Alexander Skarsgård) and a collaboration with a bank card (green, of course) are supposed to secure her career.
But between tour stress, social media posts, appointments and rehearsals, Charlie xcx threatens to lose herself and her art. The film takes a sharp look at show business and the artistic compromises that come with it. Interestingly, alongside stars from today's social media world such as Kylie Jenner, Rosanna Arquette and Arielle Dombasle, two seasoned actresses with long careers, also appear.
The film is an entertaining reflection on art and show business, cleverly using Charlie XCX's moment of fame and thus continuing it.
Let's see what music Charlie XCX has written for Wuthering Heights. In any case, the hype remains for now.
