Hari Sama’s “This Is Not Berlin,” a buzzed-up contender in next week’s Copia Final, charts a teen’s rebellion at the social stupor of Mexico in 1986, sunk in repressive conservatism, World Cup herd fervor, and the frat-boy sexism of his classmates.
Carted off to a night-club as payback for mending a synthesizer, he discovers a dazzling anti-system nightlife of death post-punk, drugs, avant-garde art and, for Mexico of that time, avant-garde sex, single sex or hetero, but with the women making the moves.
Sama’s heartfelt retro but vital and very autobiographical tribute to the 1980s, “This Is Not Berlin,” portrays a Mexico where outrage at Mexico’s ruling elite was a badge-of-honor of the outrageous minority.
30 years later that sentiment has gone mainstream. The victory of Amlo in Mexico was a vote for radical change in a country beset by corruption and narco civil war. Few films...
Carted off to a night-club as payback for mending a synthesizer, he discovers a dazzling anti-system nightlife of death post-punk, drugs, avant-garde art and, for Mexico of that time, avant-garde sex, single sex or hetero, but with the women making the moves.
Sama’s heartfelt retro but vital and very autobiographical tribute to the 1980s, “This Is Not Berlin,” portrays a Mexico where outrage at Mexico’s ruling elite was a badge-of-honor of the outrageous minority.
30 years later that sentiment has gone mainstream. The victory of Amlo in Mexico was a vote for radical change in a country beset by corruption and narco civil war. Few films...
- 12/6/2018
- by John Hopewell and Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Morelia — This year’s Impulso Morelia, the festival’s works in progress section for Mexican films, runs Wednesday to Friday, and ends with writer-director – and in this case supporting actor – Hari Sama’s semi-autobiographical coming of age film “This is Not Berlin.”
Set in the art-filled, politically charged world of 1986 Mexico City, the film turns on two best friends and neighbors bored with their lives in the suburbs. Carlos and Gera do everything together, from fighting to school projects, sneaking out at night and selling Gera’s dad’s porn collection to horny classmates.
Gera’s older sister is a punk rock poet who fully embraces the massive social changes of the era, and thanks to her the boys are able to make their way into the very heart of the alternative art scene. More and more frequently the pair escape to the drug-fueled world of barely-legal night clubs and become overwhelmed by the sex,...
Set in the art-filled, politically charged world of 1986 Mexico City, the film turns on two best friends and neighbors bored with their lives in the suburbs. Carlos and Gera do everything together, from fighting to school projects, sneaking out at night and selling Gera’s dad’s porn collection to horny classmates.
Gera’s older sister is a punk rock poet who fully embraces the massive social changes of the era, and thanks to her the boys are able to make their way into the very heart of the alternative art scene. More and more frequently the pair escape to the drug-fueled world of barely-legal night clubs and become overwhelmed by the sex,...
- 10/24/2018
- by Jamie Lang
- Variety Film + TV
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