LOU Reed dusts off his 1973 orchestral record “Berlin,” about mangled love in a divided city, in a concert film directed by the painter and filmmaker Julian Schnabel.
Reed performed the whole downbeat album (and some other songs) with a craftsman’s dedication at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn in 2006. The film of the performance is a testament to Reed’s smoldering concentration and disdain for the commercial. Your enjoyment will hinge entirely on whether you think the album is a masterpiece or a bore.
Schnabel interjects images from a short film (shot by his daughter Lola) in which the central character of the album, Caroline, is played hauntingly by Emmanuelle Seigner, the actress wife of Roman Polanski. Seigner’s presence, glimpsed as if through a scrim of loss, adds much to the film, but after a while, Schnabel seems to tire of such arty touches and settles in to cast his gaze on Reed and the band as though he were simply sitting in the audience.
That creates a somewhat enervating effect, though part of Reed’s appeal is that he doesn’t urge the crowd to party so much as bear witness to sorrow.
Running time: 85 minutes. Rated PG-13 (profanity). At the Film Forum, Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue.