Cinemascope

David Hudson posts the names of the first eight films confirmed as Competition entries at this year’s Berlin Film Festival (February 7-17), five of them are world premieres.
Although it may be fartingly presumptuous of me, without seeing any of the films, or even knowing who the rest of the 12 competition titles are, I can’t help but predict that Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood will win the Golden Bear. How can it not? Has there been another movie of this magnitude recently? Thus, any other film submitted to the Competition should note that they are fighting for second place at best.
If there is a stumbling block for Blood is that it arrives in Berlin after being hailed a masterpiece by The New Yorker, LA critics and others, and Costa-Gavras’ jury may want to sift through the selection and find an undiscovered gem, one whose success will be credited to the festival (similarly, Letters From Iwo Jima left the last Berlinale empty handed). But I believe that once they see “There Will Be Blood” they will literally be blown away by it. Or struck on the head by it. Or left speechless and dumbfounded by it.
Other American movies will now probably stay away from the competition. Who’d want to go up against a bone-fide masterpiece?

I wouldn’t be surprised to see “Sweeney Todd“, “Margot at the Wedding” and “Be Kind Rewind” playing Berlin in the out-of-competition section.

And will the Berlin shot “Speed Racer” have it’s world premiere at the festival? And what about Paul Schrader’s “Adam Resurrected“? Will it make it into the competition?