Movie Review

Lou Reed's Berlin (2008)

Reviewed by Owen Gleiberman | Jul 18, 2008

Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman is a film critic for EW

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EW's GRADE

B-

Details Limited Release: Jul 18, 2008; Rated: Unrated; Length: 81 Minutes; Genre: Documentary

$BERLIN TO BROOKLYN Lou Reed in the Julian Schnabel-directed film of the musician\'s 2006 performance of 1973 album$

BERLIN TO BROOKLYN Lou Reed in the Julian Schnabel-directed film of the musician's 2006 performance of 1973 album

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In a performance filmed in Brooklyn in 2006, Lou Reed gives his 1973 drugs-and-suicide-and-domestic-breakdown album Berlin the classic-rock treatment (horns, teen choir, Antony on vocals). Yet this luminously shot concert movie, directed by Julian Schnabel (who does with film stocks and video images created by his daughter what he used to do with plates), reveals that Berlin is far from the lost masterpiece the movie wants it to be. Reed and the band get a momentum going in ''Men of Good Fortune'' and the great girl-group bop ''Caroline Says I,'' but as the relationship chronicled by the songs withers, so does the music's majesty. B-

Originally posted Jul 16, 2008 Published in issue #1003 Jul 25, 2008 Order article reprints

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