Esto no es Berlín

Substance over style may be enough for some moviegoers, but many savvy cinephiles require more, and that's certainly the case with this thrown-together collection of images and incidents that have little meaningful cohesion to bind them. Set in Mexico City in 1986, this slow-moving slog tells the stories of three high school students who become involved with an assortment of metrosexual, drug-addicted sociopolitical performance artists and musicians who endlessly go clubbing to party at fringe and edgy night spots. However, in several cases, it's difficult to fathom the characters' interest (and subsequent radical changes in behavior) in this scene given how divergent they are from their backgrounds, not to mention the events that spring forth from these inexplicable shifts. What's more, the film attempts to provide a temporal context by including references to events of the time, though without elaboration of and explanation for their inclusion in the first place. Despite the picture's relative success at capturing the look and feel of the era, some of it is painfully excessive, most notably the performance art, which is pretentious even by 1980s standards. Director Hari Sama's half-baked effort leaves much to be desired, no matter how stylish it may appear on screen or how allegedly hip it may think it is.

Deals with interesting topics of Mexico City underground scene and emancipation of its subcultures.

A fast paced portrait of the underground culture in Mexico. Absorbent and wonderful.

¨Breaking the Law by Judas Priest starts playing in the background.¨ Although that the movie has a slight problem of rhythm, This is not Berlin is part of that select group of Mexican cinema that proposes fresh things. Maybe not as innovative, but new after all. With good performances, great technical aspects and a soundtrack worthy of a pretty cool oldie playlist, Hari Sama gives us a pretty beautiful movie that despite being located in the Mexico of the 80's, a big part of the audience will see themselves reflected int the screen in some way or another. Regardless of which generation you belong to.

I loved it. The 3 lead young actors are all great. One of my fave foreign films of 2019

Película autobiográfica de su director Hari (Carlos) Sama que narra como fue su adolescencia en los 80s y su acercamiento al mundo rebelde del punk, las drogas y la protesta. Nada muy interesante pero bien hecha y con un muy buen protagónico de Xabiani Ponce de León.

It's amazing what Sama did in this film. The esthetic, the soundtrack, the cast, the story, all things that mix perfectly to recreate the México 80's.