"had the potential to be intense and thrilling"

Screening in this year’s Berlinale Panorama section, Silent Sparks is a love story between criminals that had the potential to be intense and thrilling—but instead, it ends up feeling slow and flat.

It takes a while to even understand what the film is about, which made it hard to stay engaged at first. Once the story finally takes shape, it unfolds at a steady but predictable pace. The romance never really sparks, and the tension that should come with a story set in the criminal underworld is barely there.

Visually, the film has some interesting choices, but nothing that makes up for the lack of energy in the storytelling. It could have been much more exciting, but instead, it plays everything too safe.