The other day I spontaneously went to see the brand new Berlin movie Liebesfilm that was just released to cinemas. I hadn’t heard of the film before, to be honest – Berlin Bouncer has taken up most of the Berlin buzz I guess – so I didn’t have any specific expectations of the flick.
But to my delight, I was really enjoying what I was seeing. In contrast to most Berlin movies or TV shows of the last years, this film did not portrait the city and its inhabitants in a stylized and overdramatized kind of way. It felt very real and honest which made the film and its characters incredibly likable. Even that kooky, trashy little party at the beginning of the film felt like a much more earnest representation of Berlin nightlife than any exaggerated techno rave in some kind of stunning location that doesn’t even look like anything that would exist in Berlin – we’ve seen in too many times in many other movies already.
The story is as simple as it gets: Two unlikely lovers find themselves – completely wasted – in a party and start a joyful love affair. The snotty, rebellious attitude of them perfectly captures the personality of the archetype Berliner: totally impossible but also adorable at the same time. And even though this film is not really about the city itself at all I feel like I rarely saw a movie that felt more “Berlin” like this one.
You can currently watch Liebesfilm at Filmtheater am Friedrichshain, Zukunft am Ostkreuz, Wolf Kino, Passage Kino and Delphie Lux.
