Seventeen-year-old Carlos doesn't fit in anywhere, not in his family nor with the friends he has chosen in school. But everything changes when he is invited to a mythical nightclub where he discovers the underground nightlife scene: punk, sexual liberty and drugs.... (Full plot summary below)
Enjoy FREE movies and series with your Prime (USA) subscription or when you start a 30-day free trial!
Seventeen-year-old Carlos doesn't fit in anywhere, not in his family nor with the friends he has chosen in school. But everything changes when he is invited to a mythical nightclub where he discovers the underground nightlife scene: punk, sexual liberty and drugs.
Leave your thoughts about This Is Not Berlin.
| VarietyDennis HarveyHari Sama’s fourth feature as writer-director is something special, and one of the best of its particular subgenre. |
| Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangSomehow existing both inside and outside the moment, This Is Not Berlin is clear-eyed enough to see that rebellion has its joys as well as its limits, and that coming of age — which is to say, coming into one’s own — means learning to recognize the difference. |
| Movie NationRoger MooreThe film’s third act surprises are fascinating post Golden Age of Queer Cinema choices. |
| RogerEbert.comTomris LafflySama owes much of the authenticity and visual panache of This Is Not Berlin to his cinematographer Alfredo Altamirano. The DP’s nervy, panoramic compositions heighten the precise production design of various multimedia art pieces and an assortment of impeccably choreographed street protests. |
| TheWrapDan CallahanWhat’s lovely about the best scenes in This Is Not Berlin is the sense Sama captures of all the possibilities opening up for Carlos. |
| The Hollywood ReporterJonathan HollandSmart, good-looking and buzzing with edginess, Sama's fourth feature has been made with a love and care that's palpable in every frame, allowing us to forgive its occasional, inevitable brushes with cliche. |
| The Film StageJared MobarakThe events onscreen are semi-autobiographical for Sama and thus a document of the turmoil those his age at the time faced when external expectations and internal hopes clashed. At its center: love. The power it has to bring us together opposite its potential to tear us apart. |
| Screen InternationalWendy IdeSama’s film captures the quicksilver sparks of an artistic moment – the point at which a loose bohemian community collectively finds its voice and forces the mainstream to take notice. |
| Boston GlobeTy BurrThis Is Not Berlin is a relative rarity: a coming-of-age drama in which the student may have more maturity than the teachers. |
| IndieWireJude DryThe film has style in spades; it would have substance, too, if only it knew when to quit. |
