He and his best friend, Gera (José Antonio Toledano), who live in the suburb of Lomas Verdes, do a lot of the usual boys’ stuff: They smoke, sneak out their bedroom windows and swap pornographic magazines with friends at school. Web design by Pro Blog Design. It doesn't go in the directions that you necessarily expect. |, March 17, 2020 A chiaroscuro coming-of-age tale set in turbulent 1980s Mexico City and a fine bookend to Alfonso Cuaron's Roma. Sign up here. "This Is Not Berlin" is both a sensitive coming-of-age story and a vibrant, affectionate ode to Mexico City's burgeoning counterculture. Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy. There's even a dramatic head shaving scene. The DP’s nervy, panoramic compositions heighten the precise production design of various multimedia art pieces and an assortment of impeccably choreographed street protests. At its core, This is Not Berlin is a portrait of Mexican culture during the ‘80s. | Top Critics (11) | Rotten (9). |, November 15, 2019 That's not to say that it's a bad version of the genre, just a very middle of the road one. It's not Berlin but it's also not unfamiliar territory for anyone that's seen a couple of indie coming of age movies or ones about young punks and art scenes. The rift that grows between Carlos and Gera is as much about Carlos’ questioning of his sexuality as it does about the two boys’ different views of the counterculture world they so desperately want to be a part of. |, September 4, 2020 [Its] superficial shock value masks the real pain of finding your voice. By day, Carlos’s life has a more leisurely tempo. I really wanted it to break my heart open, but it just left me wistful for what could have been. Your AMC Ticket Confirmation# can be found in your order confirmation email. This difference in perspective is what leads to the life-threatening climax of the film, and the revelations that come with it. and the Terms and Policies, At one of Nico’s wild parties, one of his fellow artists berates him for living it up while AIDS is killing their brethren one at a time, but is only brushed off. Ultimately about the gray, adolescent area between belonging and standing out, this feverishly sensual film follows an uncertain teen as he tries out a few brazen identities, haircuts and voices along the way before discovering the comforts of a pertinent combination. [An] edgy, challenging coming of age story. This Is Not Berlin’s trouble, moreover, is that it does not seem to know whether it wants to be purely about the culture or the individual. This Is Not Berlin embodies all of that with intoxicating gusto. Sama daringly charts Carlos’ journey in vibrant detail, accentuating his ever more performative commitment to his advantageously ambiguous identity, sexual and otherwise. He doesn’t really belong here, in a world where so much unruly masculine energy can only express itself, tediously, through violence. The setting is the Mexico City area in 1986, when the metropolis, still recovering from the 1985 earthquake, quietly absorbs the shocks of a cultural shift. [Full Review in Spanish], It explores suggestively and frankly the rarefied atmospheres of what was the 80's musical and artistic counterculture. |, August 26, 2019 One of the picture’s sharper observations is that what keeps Carlos coming back to the Azteca is something less tangible and more elusive than sexual desire. Verified reviews are considered more trustworthy by fellow moviegoers. All rights reserved. It is all here. Affiliate links used when available. Nico enlists Carlos to become part of his political art pieces — one in which a group of naked youths parade the streets screaming about LGBT discrimination, another in which they hijack a government event to screen videos of lewd images — which all seem to be oddly empty of actual political statements. [Full Review in Spanish], This is not Berlin can be a bit disconcerting at times, but it's the wild version of of a good storyteller's adolescence. But another responds, “Art is whatever means one thing to us today.”. | Rating: 2/4 This is at least the case for Carlos, a child of a broken home. Just leave us a message here and we will work on getting you verified. J.R. 'Bob' Dobbs & The Church of the SubGenius, Fall TV First Look: Find Out What’s Coming, The Best Peacock Original Shows and Movies, All Upcoming Disney Movies: New Disney Live-Action, Animation, Pixar, Marvel, and More. Justin Chang has been a film critic for the Los Angeles Times since 2016. “Whether you like it or not, art is political, man!” one declares. Review: With the environment on the line, ‘The Devil Has a Name’ wastes its shot on melodrama. Carlos and Gera’s fast-changing friendship lends the movie some emotional ballast, and so do their respective families — even the underdeveloped parental figures, who, as Carlos’ mother wryly notes, once acted out themselves in similar ways. “This is an everything bar,” she replies. Atlanta police made an arrest in the shooting death of actor Thomas Jefferson Byrd, known for his roles in films by director Spike Lee.