Berlin, I Love You Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Berlin, I Love You Blu-ray Movie Review

Oof wedersehn.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 24, 2019

Kind of hilariously just as I was getting ready to write this review of Berlin, I Love You, a news article came across my feed about Berlin police having to break up a brawl started by competing YouTube “stars”, of all things. That may suggest that not everyone has succumbed to the blandishments of the once famously walled city, but Berlin, I Love You presents another amalgamation of only tangentially linked stories in what amounts to a kind of quasi-portmanteau . For those of you who aren't up to speed, Berlin, I Love You is another entry in what has been self described as the “Cities of Love” franchise by its creator, Emmanuel Benbihy, a series which focuses on various global metropolises while bringing together a slew of different directors to handle different vignettes set in whatever title locale is the film's subject. I was frankly kind of embarrasingly surprised to be reminded when doing background research for this review that the “Cities of Love” series actually includes more films than just Paris, je t'aime and New York, I Love You. I mentioned the announced but even now still forthcoming Shanghai, I Love You in my New York, I Love You Blu-ray review, which I had completely forgotten about, but in the meantime Rio, I Love You and the maybe hilariously named Tbilisi, I Love You have appeared. I personally found New York, I Love You to be a more organically fulfilling viewing experience than what I perceived to be the kind of fragmented feeling in Paris, je t’aime, and I have yet to see either of the other entries in the franchise (it's perhaps notable that Tbilisi, I Love You isn't even in our database as of the publishing of this review), but unfortunately it’s another dip downward with regard to Berlin, I Love You, a film which is perhaps unable to overcome some almost mind bogglingly bad choices, including what might be thought of as a German automotive update of My Mother, the Car.

Some of the best remembered films in the entire history of cinema have been at least partially set in (if not necessarily shot in) Berlin, including everything from Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler to Berlin: Symphony of a Great City to Metropolis to M to Grand Hotel to Night Train to Munich to The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp to A Foreign Affair to I Am a Camera (and of course its musical version Cabaret) to One, Two, Three to The Spy Who Came in from the Cold to Funeral in Berlin to Torn Curtain to The Serpent's Egg to Berlin Alexanderplatz to Run Lola Run to The Bourne Supremacy (and this admittedly lengthy list only begins to scratch the veritable surface). But Berlin, I Love You begins with an obvious reference to one of the most famous Berlin set films, Wim Wenders’ Wings of Desire, when a busker named Damiel (Robert Stadlober), dons “Bruno Ganz wings” and performs as a “mannequin” in a town square. Damiel soon chafes when a folksy singer-songwriter named Sara (Rafaëlle Cohen) shows up and co-opts “his” space. These two characters will form a through line in the narrative which supposedly weaves things together.

While it’s a foregone conclusion that this mismatched pair is going to end up in each other’s arms (wings notwithstanding) by the end of the film, Berlin, I Love You takes a number of fitful detours, per its anthology format. Unfortunately, few if any of them resonate very well, and the tonal discrepancies between them are quite noticeable. There’s a kind of magical realist element to a vignette involving a despondent man named Jared (Jim Sturgess) who buys a car who talks to him and prevents him from committing suicide. Another segment involves the hot button issue of immigration, with a do-gooder named Jane (Keira Knightley) attempting to help a young Arab boy, much to the (initial) disapproval of her mother Margaret (Helen Mirren). A kind of smarmy interlude features an increasingly unrecognizable Mickey Rourke as a wasted elder named Jim who hooks up with a young woman named Heather (Toni Garnn), only to discover — well, let’s just say that the “shock ending” of this particular story is telegraphed from almost its first moment. Another story involves a has been film producer named Burke Linz (Luke Wilson) who interacts with a female puppeteer named Katarina (Dianna Agron) in what almost plays like a gender reversed version of Lili .

There’s an oddly generic feeling to this outing despite its announced Berlin setting. There may be innumerable “Cities of Love”, but if I Love You, Berlin is any indication of the way this franchise is going, it’s getting to be like staying in a Holiday Inn — things are the same no matter where any particular hotel (and/or film) is ostensibly located.

Berlin, I Love You Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Berlin, I Love You is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The closing credits actually have several mentions of Arri Alexa products as having digitally captured the imagery, and I'm assuming this was finished at a 2K DI. Despite the prevalence of groups of directors, writers, and stars, Berlin, I Love You was the work of only one cinematographer, Kolja Brandt, and that perhaps helps the film to achieve a certain uniformity in "look" despite the widely variant tones and subject matters. The film actually begins with a kind of cool animated sequence (see screenshots 4 and 8), but then moves into live action, with a palette that offers some interesting, almost psychedelic, moments in a nightclub scene, but which can otherwise look downright wintry and gray in a number of outdoor moments. Detail levels are generally excellent, and repeated use throughout many of the vignettes of extreme close-ups helps to elevate fine detail on things like facial features and hair, as well as some of the outfits various characters are wearing. There are some pretty murky dimly lit moments here, including some nighttime material as well as darkened interior sequences, where fine detail is minimal and even general detail levels can be momentarily on the lackluster side.

Berlin, I Love You Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Berlin, I Love You features an enjoyable DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 which attains consistent immersion courtesy of any number of outdoor scenes, where urban bustle quite appealingly fills the surround channels. Some selected other sequences which feature music also offer a nicely splayed sound field, with a really burnished midrange. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout on this problem free track.

Berlin, I Love You Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The so-called Special Features advertised on the Main Menu of this disc turn out to be trailers for other Lionsgate releases, which I personally don't feel are a "scorable" supplement.

Berlin, I Love You Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The one vignette which actually really appealed to me in this set of stories was one involving a teen boy (Micheangelo Fortuzzi) who strikes up a conversation (and perhaps more) with a drag queen (Diego Luna), not because it offered anything that special (and in fact it may strike some as hackneyed and possibly even offensive), but because it seemed in some genuine way linked to Berlin's kind of shall we say "colorful" history. (Kind of amusingly, the Knightley-Mirren vignette refers to this history and not in an approving way.) Berlin, I Love You , despite some wonderful glimpses of this legendary city, just doesn't feel like it's offering much of anything that actually defines Berlin. Technical merits are generally first rate for those considering a purchase.