Berlinale: 一代宗師 (The Grandmaster)

The various storylines in Wong Kar-Wai's "一代宗師 (The Grandmaster)" don't necessarily make an organic whole, the bumpy cuts from one to another often compromise the flow of the narrative, a problem most acutely felt in the last part of the movie. Add to that some miscues in music choice, and people might start calling this a minor-Wong.

Visually, though, WKW proves he's still the irrefutable grandmaster of style, here staging breathtaking fights and observing gorgeous period details in exquisitely lit spaces, plunging the audience in stunning vistas from start to finish. As to the complaints about excessive use of slo-mo, moi thinks the director and his editing team actually managed to find the tricky balance for the many action sequences, allowing the change in speed, angles, distance to underscore the physicality, seismic force and balletic grace unique to martial arts, never missing the grandeur or the intimacy of the battle.

Both lead actors are outstanding, Zhang Ziyi shows tremendous poise and exercises great restraint, using the merest sneers and unwavering gaze to convey the resolve and inner turmoils of the heroine. Tony Leung delivers an even more fully internalized performance, acting at times solely on the strength of the slightest twitch of a muscle or every emotion left unexpressed yet commanding the entire screen with the weight of his focus and his sheer presence. Now THAT is what I call a movie star.

Berlinale: Chemi sabnis nahetsi (A Fold in My Blanket)

There are individual frames or sequences in Zaza Rusadze's debut film "Chemi sabnis nahetsi (A Fold in My Blanket)" that scream Lynchian creepy beauty with surrealist composition, saturated colors and jagged sound. These occasional bursts of delicious madness can't hide the fact that the story doesn't make sense and the exasperatingly confusing dialogue isn't really clever, but suggest a discerning eye of the young Georgian director for the unconventional and unsettling.

Flight

Despite some identifiable weaknesses- the usually reliable but here sorely miscast Don Cheadle, the rather ineffective music, an ending that errs just on the side of sentimentality- Robert Zemeckis' "Flight" is an utterly gripping piece of filmmaking with a fantastic original script by John Gatins, which takes one single incident to weave together an addiction drama/character study/morality tale/legal thriller that's intense, human, tremendously satisfying.

Registering every note of the complicated emotions of a deeply flawed character, letting temptation, pride, indignity, guilt, self-hatred all flash through his eyes without vanity or pretension, Denzel Washington hit an absolute home-run with this layered, engaging, powerful lead performance that's worthy of a 3rd Oscar (yes, in my opinion it's even better than DDL's turn as Lincoln).

Lincoln

For audience members unfamiliar with American Civil War history, there will probably be dry patches in Steven Spielberg's elegant, understated, deliberately-paced "Lincoln". In general, the 150-min epic could have gone down better without some of the familial subplots.

With the scene of the passing of the 13th Amendment, however, Spielberg proves he's still the master of populist cinema, here perfectly orchestrating the words of Tony Kushner's meticulous script on a mini-cosmos of politics and media, schemes and deals, morals and convictions, the handsome cinematography by Janusz Kamiński lending every frame a gentle light and emotional angle, and the notes of John Williams' poignant, soothing score to recreate a rousing moment of dramatic tension and monumental gravity that's manipulative but nonetheless inarguably goosebumps-worthy.

Not sure if this amounts to one of Daniel Day-Lewis' best work, but he does manage to disappear thoroughly into one of the best known historical figures of all time and gives an incredibly charismatic performance. Tommy Lee Jones as the outspoken and idealistic congressman Thaddeus Stevens is, for my money, the true scene-stealer.

Take This Waltz

In the last 20 minutes of "Take This Waltz", the movie changes course quite drastically and diminishes the magnificent, bittersweet swoon left by the 90 minutes that came before considerably.

That said, with the help of the infinitely talented and adorable Michelle Williams and her two brilliantly cast on-screen partners, a splendid visual palette exploding with kaleidoscopic colors, a pop-flavored soundtrack swaying in cheers, sorrows and brittle expectations, and above all the funny, perceptive, honest words penned by writer/director Sarah Polley, we get to see how the most natural attraction between two people develops ever so subtly, innocently, unstoppably, how the flirting, pining, dreaming, despairing blend into a hopeless dance, how love goes about casting its spells and doing its damage all within an hour and a half- and it's a beautiful, heartbreaking thing to see.

The Paperboy

It's messy, it's silly, it's outrageously over-the-top and at times eroticized with such abandon you can hardly tell if it's supposed to be repulsive or hilarious. Lee Daniels' "The Paperboy" is one of those rare cinematic creatures that really GO there, testing, dancing, flaunting right on the edge of the acceptable, shocking you with a wink of mischief.

While it's definitely not made for everyone, this wild and fabulous concoction of a movie throws fearless performances by Nicole Kidman, Matthew McConaughey, John Cusack, an ample dose of Zac Efron nakedness, lurid photography and a sultry soundtrack dripping with sweat and burning with careless desire all into the mix, coming up with a Southern noir headier than booze and thicker than tar. One could roundly dismiss it as campy farce, but it'd be crazy not to recognize a vision behind all that swampy insanity.

Zero Dark Thirty

"Zero Dark Thirty" chronicles the CIA's fascinating, decade-long hunt for Osama Bin Laden and how far a country/ a young woman is willing to go in order to kill one man.

Sculpted by Kathryn Bigelow's muscular direction, Mark Boal's sharp screenwriting and an all-around excellent tech team including some truly tremendous editing work, there's not an ounce of fat on this 157-min beast of a film (well, maybe the raid scene in the last half hour could have been a little tighter but still); Jessica Chastain as Maya is strength, resolve, intelligence, rage all in one, her portrayal of someone spiraling down into desperation and animalistic obsession is blunt, sobering, utterly compelling.