As I've written before, this year's Berlinale was a bit frustrating and not all that amazing, but I was able to watch a couple of films nonetheless (even though most of them at the Uber Hall which is cold, and too big, and uncomfortable). I don't want to complain too much, though, I was still able to see nice films, just not super good ones. So this year there's no winner since none of the pictures struck me as great or wonderful or whatever.
Here's a short overview of my film haul.
À voix basse / In a Whisper (Tunisia 2026)
Lilia and her girlfriend Alice travel from Paris to her country of birth Tunisia, where she will attend her uncle's funeral, while Alice will stay in a hotel in order not to provoke her family.
Her uncle has died under mysterious circumstances, and the more she investigates, the more it turns out his death is suspicious. The problem is that her uncle was homosexual too and she can't really hope for the support of neither police nor law, and nor society.
A slice of everyday homophobia in Tunisia, this film showcases the many aspects of that hostility - legal, social, familial, presented in beautiful pictures. I swear there's something about movies shot in warm places, that feeling of relax, of letting go of tension comes through the screen.
Wo men bu shi mo sheng ren / We Are All Strangers (Singapore 2026)
Bee Hwa, an older "beer girl" working at a humble restaurant in Singapore, marries her boss Boon Kiat, whose son Junyang impregnates and has to marry his girlfriend Lydia; so the four of them find themselves all living together in a humble apartment complex in two rooms.
The film explores the impossibility in Singapore of ascending, of acquiring reasonable wealth, and the difficulty of making a living in general. It was quite good, and despite its lighter moments, pretty dramatic too.
The director of a dance company inherited from her father is at the end of the six-month hiatus she took in order to control her alcohol addiction that led to a car accident. She returns to her family's beach house, finding a family deeply hurt and changed, and needs to face these new challenges.
This is a film that tries but doesn't quite succeed in leaving an impression. It's weird, I try to stay open to relate to any kind of lead character to follow their experience, but the mc played (very successfully) by Amy Adams was neither fish or foul, some kind of wishy-washy person who would rather watch her own life from the sidelines, but still wants to get all the recognition for the things she doesn't do. I don't know, it was hard to relate or sympathize.
El Tren Fluvial (Argentina 2026)
9 year-old Milo studies Malambo dance in an Argentine village, but wants to become an artist in the big city. So, one day he escapes home and takes the train to Buenos Aires, where he finds good luck but also challenges.
A very sweet, dreamy and sort of naive tale, with some young actors of impressive talent. There was a scene where Milo does his dance in a really unusual attire, and that scene took my breath away with the beauty of the colors, and the strange, eerie atmosphere a certain mask he wears lends.
Günyüzü / Hear the Yellow (Türkiye 2026)
Suna returns to her home village Günyüzü in central Anatolia where her house needs to be evacuated due to the rising water levels. She is a singer, possibly in a bigger city Istanbul or Ankara, and finds a very needy, very broken brother who now lives from buffalo farming, and having been deprived of maternal love all his life, has a special bond to the animals he takes care of. His son wants to become a social media star, also in a big city, although he marries and settles with a girl his father chose for him. And then there's the landowner who Suna suspects is responsible for the disappearance of her little sister years ago. And before she leaves, she wants accountability. Too bad he battles dementia now.
I was suspecting that this wouldn't be my cup, and was proven right. It was a very dragged film with peculiar acting, I think the lead was chosen due to her singing voice because otherwise she didn't convey many emotions at all. I don't know, maybe that was intentional? It was Süleyman Kabaali's performance playing the brother that carried the film.
Truly Naked (Netherlands 2026)
And I closed the Berlinale with a literal bang - the very last screening of the festival was again at Cinema Cubix at Alexanderplatz and I wasn't aware to which degree Truly Naked was controversial - the producer was there and before the screening he asked us to please not walk out and emphasized that no animals have been harmed during the making of this film. I think that was useful information because at at least one scene I felt very repulsed, yes me, and it was good to know it was simulation.
Truly Naked follows teenager Alec who is being abused by his porn star father to shoot his gigs and take photos of his performers in compromising poses (like smoking cigarettes from their b.tt hole). When he has to do a joint project with Nina, in which they have to examine porn from a man's and a woman's point of view, they first need to sort out the palpable attraction between them, but intimacy is something Alec can't really deal with.
I actually thought this is a good movie with a nice message, as I said, it's probably not for everybody, there are many many x-rated scenes, but there's a message behind that, a good one.
On an end note, this was not the best Berlinale ever, possibly more on the not so good side, and frustrating due to the lack of tickets, but hey, whatever. Next stop: Final Girls Berlin Film Festival (I received and watched some screeners for my jury duty and there are some gems in there, I tell you!)
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