Christian Petzold’s Afire has landed second on Screen’s 2023 Berlin jury grid with a strong 3.4 average.
The German drama received a mix of four-star and three-star ratings from the critics and is just behind Celine Song’s Past Lives which remains leader of the pack on 3.6.
Petzold’s fifth entry at Berlinale’s competition follows a group of friends holidaying by the Baltic Sea.
Next in line for the new titles is Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren’s 20,000 Species Of Bees which received a 2.6 average from critics.
The Basque filmmaker’s debut feature, about an eight-year-old girl finding herself over one summer, was awarded a mix of mostly three and two-star ratings. Screen’s own critic gave it four stars (excellent).
Angela Schanelec’s Music follows with 2.3. Both Paolo Bertolin from Italy’s cinematografo.it and Carlos Heli de Alemida from Brazil’s O Globo gave the film just one star while Morning Star’s Rita Di Santo awarded it four.
The film recasts the myth of Oedipus in a contemporary setting.
Philippe Garrel’s The Plough and Joao Canijo’s Bad Living both land on the jury grid with an average of 2.
The Plough received five two-star ratings with only Di Santo and Katja Nicodemus from Germany’s Die Zeit marking outside of that – with three and one stars, respectively.
Garrel’s film follows a family of puppeteers who rally to keep the legacy alive after the father passes away. The French filmmaker was last in Berlinale’s competition with 2020’s The Salt Of Tears which received 2.3 on the jury grid.
Similarly, Bad Living was awarded four two-star ratings with Nicodemus giving it one while Barbara Hollender from Poland’s Rzeczpospolita gave it a three. It is still waiting for one score.
The drama is linked to Canijo’s Encounters title Living Bad where both films are set in a remote hotel in Portugal but follows different sets of characters.
There are only five titles left in the Berlinale Competition yet to be scored – Suzume, Limbo, Art College 1994, On The Adamant and Till The End Of The Night.
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