58th Berlin Film Festival, 2008 (Festivals‪)‬

Since its inauguration in 1950s West-Berlin, the Berlin Film Festival has established itself as one of the premiere showcases of new films, both mainstream and independent. Now in its eighth year at its central location on Potsdamer Platz, this year's Berlinale was even bigger and arguably better than previous offerings--the stars were more numerous and glamorous, the competition stronger, and even the usual sleet and rain gave way to bright sunshine. Over ten days, 384 films were shown in 1256 screenings, 15 of the 21 films in the competition were world premieres, and 19,000 film professionals from 120 countries participated, including 4,000 journalists. Demand for tickets was never higher--the Bollywood production Om Shanti Om sold out in seven minutes, and there was an equally strong rush to see the RollingStones documentary, Shine a Light, which opened the festival, and the already highly decorated There Will Be Blood, which gained Thomas Paul Anderson a Silver Bear for best director. Directed by Martin Scorsese, Shine a Light showcases two concerts that the Rolling Stones played in the intimate art deco Beacon Theater in New York City in October 2006. Recorded by sixteen distinguished cameramen on a stage specifically created with the cinematographers' needs in mind, the film is an elegant work by the godfather of rock documentary, bringing the Stones' performance closer to home than ever before. For the first ten minutes, a grainy black and-white sequence takes us backstage to look at the preparations for the show, at Jagger's bickering about the stage design and at Scorsese trying (in vain) to get a set list for the evening so that he can position the cameras. For the remainder of the film, the Stones play the same songs that they've performed for almost forty years, with a few odd numbers thrown in, and there are guest appearances by Jack White of The White Stripes, Christina Aguilera, and blues legend Buddy Guy. While we may have heard it all before, we have hardly seen it like this: Jagger embracing Richards in a moment of intimacy; a smug Ronnie Wood grinning from ear to ear; Charlie Watts slumping with exhaustion into his drum set after a particularly long number; and Keith Richards, with the deeply furrowed face and mischievous grin of a pirate (the true model for Johnny Depp's Captain Sparrow), taking a drag from his cigarette and torpedoing it off-stage--Punk is not dead after all. The latest in a long line of Stones documentaries that extends from Godard's Sympathy for the Devil to Gimme Shelter, Shine A Light presents the Stones closer than we ever saw them before, lizards who have managed to survive the extinction of their species and have the scars to show for it. Scorsese was allowed to add one title to the band's play list; he chose "As Tears Go By," which includes the line, "I sit and watch the children play"--and that is what he did.