Julian Schnabel's concert film on Lou Reed's never-before-performed 1973 album "Berlin". The concert is played against a background of screens showing dreamy images of Emmanuelle Seigner, and the resulting footage is layered with those same images. Not sure if all this adds up to much - indeed sometimes it feels like it's getting in the way of experiencing the concert. I far preferred Jonathan Demme's less invasive style in HEART OF GOLD (which Ellen Kuras also shot, along with SHINE A LIGHT). Still, there's great pleasure to be had in seeing Lou Reed play classic songs about a failing relationship from an album that inexplicably bombed on first release. Reed gets a full choir and string section to back him up and highlights include "Caroline Says", "Satellite of Love" and an "off-album" version of Candy Says show-casing Antony and the Johnsons.
BERLIN played Venice and Toronto 2007 and was released in 2008. It is available on DVD and opens in Spain on May 15th.
