Review: Berlin Syndrome


Teresa Palmer stars as an Australian photojournalist in Berlin who makes fast company with Max Riemelt, and well, one thing leads to another leading to the next morning. So what of the next morning? Well, funny thing…Palmer has a little trouble…sort of kinda maybe leaving Riemelt’s apartment. He has left for his day job as a teacher, and left the door locked. When he returns he acts like it’s no big deal, but the same thing keeps happening and it’s not long before Palmer realises she’s been held prisoner by a disturbed young man. And yet…she still seems somewhat drawn to the guy (hence the clever title).



Although decently performed, Aussie director Cate Shortland (“Somersault”, one of those films that received a lot of critical love during a dreary period in Aussie cinema) gives us much ado about nothing with this kidnap thriller from 2017. It’s like a more sexual “Captivity”, and although I’m the only person who didn’t hate that ‘torture porn’ film, I think this is the lesser of the two. Teresa Palmer is decent in the lead, and Max Riemelt isn’t too bad, either. However they aren’t good enough to make up for an unpleasant, slow-moving, and ultimately pretty underdone film. The cinematography is a bit too dark, as well.



There’s just not much going on here and it didn’t interest me a whole hell of a lot, I’m afraid. Your mileage may wildly differ. The screenplay by Shaun Grant (the disturbing “Snowtown”) is from a hopefully fuller Melanie Joosten novel. For me the best thing is the adorably Teutonic version of Petula Clark’s classic ‘Downtown’ played at one point (by a singer named Ina Martell). Hell, it might even be better than Clark’s English-language version if I may be so bold.



Rating: C-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Boyka: Undisputed

Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins) is out of prison and fighting for a living, with ambitions for the ‘Most Complete Fighter’ to make a real name for himself. However, after an opponent dies during a fight, the deeply religious Boyka starts to have a crisis of conscience. He tries to make amends with the man’s widow, which eventually pits him against a local gangster (Alon Moni Aboutboul, quite good). Anything with Scott Adkins will generally get me interested, and although this series peaked with the superlative “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , this 2017 film from director Todor Chapkanov (director of the SyFy movies “Copperhead” and “Ghost Town” ) is no slouch in a series yet to deliver anything less than solid entertainment. Producer Isaac Florentine is missed in the director’s chair, but Chapkanov gives us at the very least the series’ most dramatically ambitious entry, as Adkins’ ‘most complete fighter’ Yuri Boyka continues on his journey to redemption here. In this one, the
Read more

Review: Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear

Scott Adkins is once again Casey, an American proponent of the martial art of Ninjutsu. When Casey’s pregnant Japanese wife (Mika Hijii) is rubbed out, he’s on a vengeance mission to find her killers. A friendly face, Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) turns up at the funeral, and suggests Casey come to Thailand to deal with his grief in another country. Casey initially declines, but eventually takes Nakabara up on his offer. However, his wife’s murder still haunts Casey, and with intel supplied by Nakabara, the trail eventually leads Casey to a brutal drug baron named Goro (Shun Sugata).   I was extremely disappointed with the first “Ninja” , but had heard that this 2013 sequel from director Isaac Florentine ( “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , “Undisputed III: Redemption” , “Ninja” ) was a damn near masterpiece of the martial-arts action movie genre. Having now finally gotten my hot little hands on it, I’d say the hype is a bit much, but this is unquestionably a much better film than the f
Read more