Berlinale is often famous not only for its main program but also for the Panorama section; this article will discuss two bright films from it – “Inside” and “Reality”.

“Inside”

“Inside” is a silently screaming film about searching for and losing oneself in the depths of the soul in complete isolation. It is a manifesto about any creativity and art that is impossible without destruction or self-destruction. It is a dozen complex questions that the creator and the viewer ask themselves, elevating them to the absolute, without receiving answers. Each of us will fill this film with our own thoughts and words while an incredible performance by Willem Dafoe unfolds before our eyes, whose textured face fascinates with every cell, making it impossible to look away (the magic of camera and cinema plus charisma strike once again: the person in real life is completely different!).

Incidentally, the apartment itself also plays a leading role alongside Dafoe, sometimes reflecting his state, sometimes resisting it. The duet of the protagonist with something seemingly inanimate adds subtle psychologism and immerses us, the viewers, into this space.  

Piercing, metaphorical, it immediately hits where it needs to. “Inside” is about madness and loneliness, about energy, its sources and outlets, about physical and spiritual transformation, both of the person and the microcosm surrounding them. 

Thank you for your hospitality. But what is art to you is a cage to me. I’m sorry I destroyed this. But maybe it needed to be destroyed. After all, there is no creation without destruction. 

“Reality”

Reality (like “Inside,” this film was screened as part of the Panorama program) is a solid documentary drama about American intelligence officer Reality Leigh Winner, who, while working as a translator, removed classified materials from a government facility and sent them to a news agency. The events unfold in 2017, when Russian interference in the US elections was being investigated. 

Director Tina Satter managed to engagingly and grippingly transfer the theatrical play to the screen and hold the viewers’ attention on the interrogation, which essentially takes place in one location with three characters: Reality herself (Sydney Sweeney) and two FBI agents (Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis). The film sharply immerses us in this place and time and makes us feel our presence in the house where the interview takes place.

“Reality” is a chillingly realistic film; the dialogues are convincing, and the actual documentary recording of the conversation precisely amplifies the moment. For moments, I even thought I would feel the same if I were in an unexpected interrogation, so I almost immediately emotionally “connected” with the heroine.

Tina Satter’s staging is not without humor, which only further electrifies the atmosphere, preparing us for the inevitably dramatic denouement. Sydney Sweeney, skillfully stepping outside her usual roles, talentedly reveals an intelligent and principled heroine, giving her an honest, lively, and authentic character. 

The real Winner’s sister and parents also attended the world premiere in Berlin. Sydney also said after the screening that she contacted the real Reality multiple times to prepare for the role.