ANGUS REID, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MARIA DUARTE review On The Sea, A Useful Ghost, Brunello: The Gracious Visionary, and Pinocchio Unstrung
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Compassionate and political: films to look out for
RITA DI SANTO samples an array of new international films and selects her favourites
On the Adamant
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RON JACOBS enjoys a great tale, told by a US communist, of the lives of working-class New Yorkers
BRENT CUTLER searches a new history of contemporary Iran for an understanding of the Islamic Republic, finding both interesting detail and glaring omissions
MARIA DUARTE recommends the true story of the remarkable woman who sued Donald Trump for sexual assault not once, but twice
KENNY MacASKILL is disappointed by a polemical, rather than factual, account of the Lone Star State and its political path since the civil war
PAUL DONOVAN is fascinated by the lives of Charles and Mary Bagot, and the insight this biography shines on the morals of pre-Victorian society
GORDON PARSONS appreciates fine performances and a feel for ambiguity, but misses the music of the dialogue
THE Berlin Film Festival jury got it right this year bestowing the Golden Bear on French director Nicolas Philibert’s On the Adamant. A poignant documentary about a Parisian mental health facility on a boat anchored on the Seine.
The 72-year-old film-maker spent months chronicling the work of the centre, which caters specifically to its patients’ creative needs. What emerges is not only a depiction of warm, enthusiastic psychiatric treatment, but a portrait of several individuals who, despite their noticeable disabilities, produce original artworks.
This is a movie made relevant by its effort to reverse common preconceptions about mental illness, with candour and depth, but that also displays a distinctive, humane cinematic style.
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