The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

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Movies that follow various entwined stories, with remotely-connected characters, tend to be star-studded, but that doesn’t always save them from falling into the trap of mediocrity. Can the stellar cast save Berlin, I Love You from that trap?

Berlin, I Love You is the latest instalment of a film franchise that gathers a group of love stories that take place in one city in each film. Berlin, I Love You encompasses ten stories, mostly about love – with one or two exceptions. The stories are only related by the fact that they all take place in Berlin, the characters only appear in their own story,with no universal message but one; Berlin is cool.That is the closest to a plot summary as can be without actually explaining each plot individually.

The way the stories are told is very episodic and even irregularly; for example, the film starts with an animated history of Berlin, followed by a short conversation between two street performers, before being interrupted by an entirely different, unrelated story.

Randomly assembled without any common factors –not even in terms of editing – Berlin, I Love You, unlike other movies of its genre, doesn’t deliver each story from the beginning to the end on its own. Even showing how cool Berlin is doesn’t seem like a solid backbone, as the assembly is both messy and weak.

Apart from a few comments from a couple of the characters about how great Berlin is, the audience gets to see almost nothing about Berlin, making the whole concept seem silly and forced.

The quality of the stories and the amicability of the characters vary, but even the best ones do not go far from mediocre, and the audience does not really get to care about most, if not all, of the characters. This took away most of the emotions from the film, as the audiences were not able to sympathise with any of the characters or cared about the outcome of many of the stories.

The actors included Keira Knightly, Karen Millen, Luke Wilson, Mickey Rourke, Dianna Agron and more. However, while most of the actors are of large calibre, and might even have shown their talent in the film, they couldn’t save this movie.

Berlin, I Love You may have an almost decent premise, but the messy execution produces minimal, if any, emotions and wastes big talents.