This Is Not Berlin
Samuel Goldwyn Films | Release Date: August 9, 2019 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
VarietyDennis HarveyJul 11, 2019
Hari Sama’s fourth feature as writer-director is something special, and one of the best of its particular subgenre. Read full review
83
The Film StageJared MobarakJul 11, 2019
The 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. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesJustin ChangAug 22, 2019
Somehow 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. Read full review
80
TheWrapDan CallahanAug 8, 2019
What’s lovely about the best scenes in This Is Not Berlin is the sense Sama captures of all the possibilities opening up for Carlos. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJonathan HollandJul 11, 2019
Smart, 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. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 26, 2019
The film’s third act surprises are fascinating post Golden Age of Queer Cinema choices. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyAug 9, 2019
Sama 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. Read full review
70
Screen DailyWendy IdeJul 11, 2019
Sama’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. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrAug 28, 2019
This Is Not Berlin is a relative rarity: a coming-of-age drama in which the student may have more maturity than the teachers. Read full review
58
IndieWireJude DryAug 12, 2019
The film has style in spades; it would have substance, too, if only it knew when to quit. Read full review
50
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergAug 8, 2019
This Is Not Berlin so wants to evoke a time and a place that the backdrop engulfs the characters like a supernova. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDiego SemereneJul 30, 2019
Hari Sama never quite manages to seamlessly sync the film’s anti-bourgeois political commitments to its soap-operatic register. Read full review
42
The PlaylistJonathan ChristianAug 9, 2019
Similar to the cringeworthy performance art that wraps itself around the core of the film, This Is Not Berlin is emotionally hollow, more than a bit confused, and regrettably forgettable. Read full review
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