Desire Will Set You Free

Yony Leyser's autobiographical feature film serves up a portrait of the contemporary Berlin underground scene. Leyser stars as Ezra, an American writer of mixed Israeli-Palestinian descent who has come to the German city to research a book. Much of the film follows him and his closest friends—gloomy Catharine (Chloé Griffin), and a Russian expatriate artist named Sasha (Tim-Fabian Hoffman) who is struggling to survive as a gay hustler—as they visit the hedonistic hangouts of the LGBTQ community, especially the frenetic music clubs where social outsiders of all ages, genders, and tastes congregate. Along the way, they encounter some icons of the scene—including Nina Hagen, the so-called Godmother of Punk, and Canadian electro musician Peaches—as well as a variety of other celebrities who make cameo appearances. Overall, Desire Will Set You Free has a meandering, improvisatory quality, but it gradually develops into a tale of characters searching for love in unlikely places, while also touching on some serious issues, such as restrictive immigration policies. The acting is extremely variable, with many roles taken by non-professionals, but for a film that was obviously made on a modest budget, the technical quality is surprisingly proficient. Boasting a vividness and vitality that compensate to some degree for the diffuse storytelling, this should be considered a strong optional purchase. (F. Swietek)