Berlin, I Love You

Starring: Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren, Luke Wilson, Jim Sturgess, Mickey Rourke, Jenna Dewan, Emily Beecham, Dianna Agron, Veronica Ferres, Diego Luna, Iwan Rheon, Charlotte Le Bon, Sibel Kekilli, Nolan Gerard Funk, Julia Dietze
Directed by: Dianna Agron, Peter Chelsom, Claus Clausen, Fernando Eimbcke, Justin Franklin, Dennis Gansel, Dani Levy, Daniel Lwowski, Stephanie Martin, Josef Rusnak, Til Schweiger, Massy Tadjedin, Gabriela Tscherniak
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Romance
2019

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary:A number of stories of love and human connection take place around Berlin, Germany.

Review:

Tim: I'm not sure why I even bothered to watch Berlin, I Love You. I watched the first two films in the Cities of Love series- Paris je t'aime and New York, I Love You and I thought they were both okay. I never even heard of the ones set in Tibilsi (which I've never heard of) and Rio. I didn't even know those movies existed. But, I came back for the Berlin one and it's the worst of the three I've seen. I think this franchise is a very good idea that seems impossible to pull off effectively. The idea is solid- set a bunch of short films in one city, all showing different sides of the city and meditating on the idea of love. The issue is that the collection of short films is always up-and-down. We have some really compelling short films that feel too short and we have some dull misses that feel too long. When you add it all up, it feels like it always come up short. This film had more boring short films than average, so the overall effectiveness of the movie was pretty low.

I know this might be unfair, but I get setting these films in Paris and New York- those cities are beacons of love and excitement. I've never been to Berlin, so I understand this is a culturally biased view, but there is a drop off. I can't say anything I saw in this film gave me the impression that I needed to get to Berlin soon. I'm CERTAIN it is a wonderful city and I'd love to visit- it's just that this movie didn't paint the right picture of the city. It feels like it was less of a force in this film than the other two movies. It just kind of sits in the background. Berlin needed to be more prominently featured.

I'm not going to comment on all the different stories (I've already forgotten some of them), but I'll hit a couple. I loved the pairing of Keira Knightley and Helen Mirren. Both are talented actresses and it was a joy to see them acting opposite each other. Unfortunately, their story only gave them a scene or two together. This is one that had promise, but needed more time to develop. I mostly enjoyed the pairing of Dianna Agron and Luke Wilson. I was trying to think of the last time I saw Wilson in a film- it's been far too long. It was great seeing him here and I thought he did a very good job. I wish their story was a bit longer, but it was definitely solid. I really like Jim Sturgess but I just wasn't following his story. I get it, but it didn't feel compelling or as clever as it believed itself to be. It happens so early that it's easy to forget it as the movie progresses, which probably is a good thing. The short with Mickey Rourke was super compelling but just so bizarre. I suppose I liked it, because it felt like such a departure from all the other stories. It is memorable, but not always in good ways. Still, it at least held your attention, which is more than I can say for some of the others. The Diego Luna one was fine- he gives a strong performance, even if the story feels underdeveloped. I was initially excited to see Iwan Rheon here, but I honest to god cannot remember a single thing about his performance or the story he was involved in. I halfheartedly tried to look it up online, but I'm not spending much time on that. Truly, I can't remember anything about him, other than remembering I saw him in the film. I suppose I could go on, but most of the other shorts were pretty average.

Berlin, I Love You does not work as a movie. As I said at the beginning, this is a great concept, but it feels impossible to pull off effectively. Previous movies in the franchise were at least decent, but this was challenging to sit through. These movies need to be 90 minutes, not two hours like this one was. I can say that this fifth film in the franchise gives me zero reason to think it's worthwhile tracking down #3 and #4. I can't say I'm looking forward to the next installment, either.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Paris, je t'aime; New York, I Love You; Tbilisi, I Love You; Rio, I Love You