Stars don’t align for uneven drama
Part of the same “Cities in Love” itinerary that previously included stops in Paris, New York and Rio, the wildly uneven anthology “Berlin, I Love You” exhibits telltale signs of jet lag.
The format, like the others in the series, groups together intersecting stories directed by international filmmakers — here including England’s Peter Chelsom, Switzerland’s Dani Levy, Iran’s Massy Tajedin and Germany’s Til Schweiger — whose vignettes theoretically capture the f lavor of the destination in question.
Given Berlin’s fractured past and Germany’s immigration challenges in the present, the locale certainly lends itself to themes of identity and tolerance, but most of the episodes prove anonymously dispensable.
For every poignant keeper (Helen Mirren and Keira Knightley play a mother and daughter who take a young Arab refugee under their wing in Tajedin’s “Under Your Feet”) there’s a clunker (Mickey Rourke attempts to bed younger woman Toni Garrn who, spoiler alert, turns out to be his long-lost daughter in the Schweiger-directed, Neil LaBute-penned “Love Is in the Air.”).
Then there’s the decision to have German characters speak in English, which adds to the authenticity issues.
Landing after 2016’s disappointing Rio chapter, the film’s end-credits announcement of Los Angeles as its next stop somehow makes one hope for a fly-over.
“Berlin, I Love You.” Rated: R, for language, some sexual content and brief nudity. Running time: 2 hours. Playing: Arena Cinelounge, Hollywood; also on VOD.