This Is Not Berlin 2019

Carlos, a seventeen-year-old in Mexico City, feels out of place at home and among his peers. He and his best friend Gera hatch a small hustle, selling his father’s nude magazines to classmates, a habit that underscores how disconnected he feels from expectations at home and at school. He resists his family’s dream that he become an engineer, yet he is deeply skilled with electronics, often tinker­ing with devices long after others have given up. When he helps a friend repair an electric keyboard, the favor earns him a ride to a mythical nightclub called Aztek, a place that reveals a hidden, pulsating world beyond the ordinary corridors of everyday life. There, the underground unfolds in front of him, hinting at an unseen, electric truth beneath the surface of his city friends and family.

At the next day’s soccer practice, Gera’s teammates warn that the club is full of gays and male prostitutes, yet the lure of that forbidden nightlife draws them back. On a subsequent visit, Carlos contributes improvised electronic lighting that lifts the band’s performance and wins the crowd’s admiration, turning him into a magnet for the club’s attention. He meets Nico Nico, who guides him toward a hidden room filled with surreal artists who push bisexual freedom, create provocative pornography, and experiment with all kinds of drugs. Inside, he’s handed an inhalable substance and witnesses a modern art critic leaving the building, loudly denouncing originality and accusing the club of copying European trends—an encounter that lends the moment its infamous tagline, This is not Berlin.

Gera steals his father’s car so they can return to the club, but they are turned away at the gate. The car is vandalized, the stereo is stolen, and both Gera and Carlos face punishment—with Rita Rita paying the price alongside them. Still, they find ways around it, and Carlos’s descent into the club grows deeper. Meanwhile, his mother battles a turbulent mental-health crisis, swinging between furious outbursts and long stretches of sleep, and Carlos often shoulders chores for his younger brother.

Carlos begins participating more actively in the club’s surreal spectacles, which include public nudity and gruesome, theatrical performances. He shaves part of his head and starts skipping school. Gera and his old friend group turn hostile, vandalizing his desk, while Nico’s advances grow more aggressive and Carlos isn’t ready to cross that line. The death of the uncle who taught him electronics compounds his sense of loss and sends him further into the club’s orbit.

During a send-off for the soccer team, the group stages a provocative demonstration that projects footage of supposed teammates engaging in sexual acts, a stunt that blurs the lines between performance and reality. Back at the club, both friends share one-night stands—Carlos with an unknown woman and Gera with a male friend of Carlos—before Nico catches Carlos off guard. When Gera is found unconscious near a toilet, Carlos pulls him to safety and takes him back to his family.

Ultimately, a police raid condemns the club, arresting everyone involved. In the hospital, Gera and Carlos reconcile, and Gera reveals his homosexuality, a poignant moment that brings a quiet honesty to a nightmarish sequence of events.