After reaching a career high with the gripping “In the Fade,” which won Best Actress laurels for Diane Krueger at Cannes as well as the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film, Fatih Akin regresses considerably with “The Golden Glove.”
His latest is yet another in a long line of serial-killer dramas under the impression that it needs to be as ugly as its subject in order to be authentic, ultimately serving as further proof that verisimilitude isn’t a virtue in and of itself. In attempting to tell the story of notorious German murderer Fritz Honka, the film inadvertently succeeds in affirming that some things are better left to the imagination.
Honka’s exploits were infamous among those who frequented Hamburg’s red-light district in the ’70s, though he himself remained unknown until after the bodies of four prostitutes were discovered in his attic apartment. Neither Akin nor star...
His latest is yet another in a long line of serial-killer dramas under the impression that it needs to be as ugly as its subject in order to be authentic, ultimately serving as further proof that verisimilitude isn’t a virtue in and of itself. In attempting to tell the story of notorious German murderer Fritz Honka, the film inadvertently succeeds in affirming that some things are better left to the imagination.
Honka’s exploits were infamous among those who frequented Hamburg’s red-light district in the ’70s, though he himself remained unknown until after the bodies of four prostitutes were discovered in his attic apartment. Neither Akin nor star...
- 9/26/2019
- by Michael Nordine
- The Wrap
A recurring controversy flared up again at last month’s Sundance festival, this time with the Zac Efron-starring Ted Bundy biopic “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile” as its lit match: Where is the line drawn between representation and celebration in films about appalling figures, particularly with a swoon-worthy sex symbol in the lead? That’s an issue less likely to be raised with “The Golden Glove,” Fatih Akin’s hyper-grisly true-crime study of another notorious 1970s serial killer, Fritz Honka: No one could accuse the German filmmaker of glamorizing anyone or anything in a film so strenuously dedicated to its own seaminess, you can practically smell the human flesh rotting on screen.
As played by 22-year-old actor Jonas Dassler, aged up and slathered in repulsive prosthetics, the film’s Honka is practically the anti-Efron/Bundy: a freakish charisma void so inhuman that it’s hard to feel...
As played by 22-year-old actor Jonas Dassler, aged up and slathered in repulsive prosthetics, the film’s Honka is practically the anti-Efron/Bundy: a freakish charisma void so inhuman that it’s hard to feel...
- 2/9/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
The Golden Glove (Der goldene Handschuh)
Germany’s Fatih Akin turns to horror for his tenth feature, The Golden Glove, which relays the true story of a 1970s serial killer who hunted prostitutes in Hamburg’s red light district. Produced by Akin and Nurhan Sekerci-Porst through his company bombero international, the film is also a co-production with Pathe and Warner Bros. Films Productions Germany. Utilizing his regular Dp Rainer Klausmann, the cast includes Jonas Dassler, Margarethe Tiesel, Uwe Rohde, Victoria Trauttmansdorff, Marc Hosemann, Hark Bohm, Heinz Strunk and Tristan Göbel. Akin competed in Locarno with his 1998 debut Short Sharp Shock but came to prominence in 2004 when his title Head-On won the Golden Bear in Berlin.…...
Germany’s Fatih Akin turns to horror for his tenth feature, The Golden Glove, which relays the true story of a 1970s serial killer who hunted prostitutes in Hamburg’s red light district. Produced by Akin and Nurhan Sekerci-Porst through his company bombero international, the film is also a co-production with Pathe and Warner Bros. Films Productions Germany. Utilizing his regular Dp Rainer Klausmann, the cast includes Jonas Dassler, Margarethe Tiesel, Uwe Rohde, Victoria Trauttmansdorff, Marc Hosemann, Hark Bohm, Heinz Strunk and Tristan Göbel. Akin competed in Locarno with his 1998 debut Short Sharp Shock but came to prominence in 2004 when his title Head-On won the Golden Bear in Berlin.…...
- 1/4/2019
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
German indie powerhouse The Match Factory will handle world sales on two Berlin Film Festival competition titles: German director Fatih Akin’s serial-killer chiller “The Golden Glove” and Turkish director Emin Alper’s family drama “A Tale of Three Sisters.”
Akin, a Hamburg native whose “Head-On” won the Golden Bear in 2004, is returning to the Berlinale with provocative “Glove,” which is based on a bestselling book. It chronicles the true story of Fritz Honka, a physically and psychologically scarred serial killer who murdered four women in Hamburg’s red-light district between 1970 and 1975. Akin has told Variety that the killer, played by rising German actor Jonas Dassler (“Lomo: The Language of Many Others”), used to live a couple of streets from where he grew up.
Honka picked up his victims at a dive bar called Zum Goldenen Handschuh (The Golden Glove in German), where he was a regular. The chiller’s...
Akin, a Hamburg native whose “Head-On” won the Golden Bear in 2004, is returning to the Berlinale with provocative “Glove,” which is based on a bestselling book. It chronicles the true story of Fritz Honka, a physically and psychologically scarred serial killer who murdered four women in Hamburg’s red-light district between 1970 and 1975. Akin has told Variety that the killer, played by rising German actor Jonas Dassler (“Lomo: The Language of Many Others”), used to live a couple of streets from where he grew up.
Honka picked up his victims at a dive bar called Zum Goldenen Handschuh (The Golden Glove in German), where he was a regular. The chiller’s...
- 12/18/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The thirteenth edition of Santiago International Film Festival, Sanfic (August 20–27, 2017), the largest film festival in Chile, will present more than 100 international and Chilean films, including productions shown and awarded in festivals such as Cannes, Berlin and Venice. Among the feature films will be 7 world and 14 Latin American premieres.
Sanfic (Santiago International Film Festival) is opening the festival to international press this year with Variety Dailies and important international guests for their Sanfic Industry section. Guest attending include Kim Yutani (Sundance programmer), Javier Martin (Berlinale delegate), Molly O ́Keefe (Tribeca Film Institute — fiction features) and Estrella Araiza (Industry director of Guadalajara Iff), to name a few. Matt Dillon is its special guest along with the renowned director of photography Rainer Klausmann.
The Summit starring Ricardo Darín, Dolores Fonzi and Erica Rivas, with an appearance of Christian Slater and renowned Chilean actors Paulina Garcia and Alfredo Castro
The opening film of the...
Sanfic (Santiago International Film Festival) is opening the festival to international press this year with Variety Dailies and important international guests for their Sanfic Industry section. Guest attending include Kim Yutani (Sundance programmer), Javier Martin (Berlinale delegate), Molly O ́Keefe (Tribeca Film Institute — fiction features) and Estrella Araiza (Industry director of Guadalajara Iff), to name a few. Matt Dillon is its special guest along with the renowned director of photography Rainer Klausmann.
The Summit starring Ricardo Darín, Dolores Fonzi and Erica Rivas, with an appearance of Christian Slater and renowned Chilean actors Paulina Garcia and Alfredo Castro
The opening film of the...
- 7/30/2017
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The Santiago International Film Festival (August 20 – 27, 2017) announced the program for the 13th edition.
Known for his roles of Dallas Winston, Rusty James and Cliff Poncier and future lead in Lars von Trier The House That Jack Built, Matt Dillon is the festival’s special guest and he will be joined by regular Fatih Akin Cinematographer Rainer Klausmann.
Continue reading...
Known for his roles of Dallas Winston, Rusty James and Cliff Poncier and future lead in Lars von Trier The House That Jack Built, Matt Dillon is the festival’s special guest and he will be joined by regular Fatih Akin Cinematographer Rainer Klausmann.
Continue reading...
- 7/29/2017
- by Eric Lavallée
- IONCINEMA.com
Third Cut is the Deepest: Akin’s Barren Examination of Armenian Genocide
Turkish-German director Fatih Akin concludes his decade in the making ‘Love, Death, and the Devil’ trilogy with The Cut, a film documenting the devastation of the 1915 Armenian genocide. It is the second film to reach theatrical release in 2015 dealing with the century old tragedy, following the aptly titled 1915 directed by Garin Hovannisian and Alec Mouhibian (both films notably star French-Armenian actor Simon Abkarian), and does convey a certain sense of nobly epic proportions in regards to the detrimental scope of an event robbed of the same historical urgency as several genocides since. But the nature of these horrors are lost in Akin’s overly refined handling of the material, whittled down to one father’s ceaseless journey to reclaim the kin war has separated him from. Those unlikely to appreciate a certain sense of honorable intention in Akin...
Turkish-German director Fatih Akin concludes his decade in the making ‘Love, Death, and the Devil’ trilogy with The Cut, a film documenting the devastation of the 1915 Armenian genocide. It is the second film to reach theatrical release in 2015 dealing with the century old tragedy, following the aptly titled 1915 directed by Garin Hovannisian and Alec Mouhibian (both films notably star French-Armenian actor Simon Abkarian), and does convey a certain sense of nobly epic proportions in regards to the detrimental scope of an event robbed of the same historical urgency as several genocides since. But the nature of these horrors are lost in Akin’s overly refined handling of the material, whittled down to one father’s ceaseless journey to reclaim the kin war has separated him from. Those unlikely to appreciate a certain sense of honorable intention in Akin...
- 9/14/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Films from Ron Howard, Lee Daniels, the Coens, Steve McQueen and Alexander Payne in the line-up of the cinematography festival.
Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography now in its 21st edition, today revealed the line-up of films selected for the festival’s main competition.
The entries are:
Burning Bush, Agnieszka Holland (Cz Rep)
Cinematographer: Martin Strba
Concrete Night, Pirjo Honkasalo (Fin-Swe-Den)
Cinematographer: Peter Flinckenberg
Heli, Amat Escalante (Mex-Fra-Ger-Neth)
Cinematographer: Lorenzo Hagerman
Home from Home (Die andere Heimat – Chronik einer Sehcsucht), Edgar Reitz (Ger-Fra)
Cinematographer: Gernot Roll
Ida, Paweł Pawlikowski (Pol-Den)
Cinematographers: Łukasz Żal, Ryszard Lenczewski
Inside Llewyn Davis, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (Us-Fra)
Cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel
Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Lee Daniels (Us)
Cinematographer: Andrew Dunn
Life Feels Good (Chce sie zyc), Maciej Pieprzyca (Pol)
Cinematographer: Paweł Dyllus
Mary Queen of Scots, Thomas Imbach (Swi-Fra)
Cinematographer: Rainer Klausmann
Nebraska, Alexander Payne (Us)
Cinematographer: Phedon Papamichael
Paradise for the Damned, Alejandro Montiel (Arg)
Cinematographer:...
Camerimage, the International Film Festival of the Art of Cinematography now in its 21st edition, today revealed the line-up of films selected for the festival’s main competition.
The entries are:
Burning Bush, Agnieszka Holland (Cz Rep)
Cinematographer: Martin Strba
Concrete Night, Pirjo Honkasalo (Fin-Swe-Den)
Cinematographer: Peter Flinckenberg
Heli, Amat Escalante (Mex-Fra-Ger-Neth)
Cinematographer: Lorenzo Hagerman
Home from Home (Die andere Heimat – Chronik einer Sehcsucht), Edgar Reitz (Ger-Fra)
Cinematographer: Gernot Roll
Ida, Paweł Pawlikowski (Pol-Den)
Cinematographers: Łukasz Żal, Ryszard Lenczewski
Inside Llewyn Davis, Joel Coen, Ethan Coen (Us-Fra)
Cinematographer: Bruno Delbonnel
Lee Daniels’ The Butler, Lee Daniels (Us)
Cinematographer: Andrew Dunn
Life Feels Good (Chce sie zyc), Maciej Pieprzyca (Pol)
Cinematographer: Paweł Dyllus
Mary Queen of Scots, Thomas Imbach (Swi-Fra)
Cinematographer: Rainer Klausmann
Nebraska, Alexander Payne (Us)
Cinematographer: Phedon Papamichael
Paradise for the Damned, Alejandro Montiel (Arg)
Cinematographer:...
- 10/29/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Werner Herzog has forever been a maverick of modern cinema and certainly never one to work within the constraints of the so-called ‘normal cinema’. A man who would rather forge his own path straight up the middle of the rock face of filmmaking, ignoring the easier Sherpa led routes on either side of that particular furrow.
Werner Herzog, the director of many classics of the left leaning art house cinema scene, including Aguirre The Wrath of God (1972), The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974) and Stroszek (1977). Not forgetting his most well known work Fitzcarraldo’ (1982) which emerged victorious from the epic struggles of which it was born, deep within the dark recesses of the Peruvian Jungle. It’s Herzog’s innate sense of persistence and drive which lends his films and Fitzcarraldo in particular a slight air of madness. You get the feeling that no matter what, Herzog’s projects will be finished...
Werner Herzog, the director of many classics of the left leaning art house cinema scene, including Aguirre The Wrath of God (1972), The Enigma of Kasper Hauser (1974) and Stroszek (1977). Not forgetting his most well known work Fitzcarraldo’ (1982) which emerged victorious from the epic struggles of which it was born, deep within the dark recesses of the Peruvian Jungle. It’s Herzog’s innate sense of persistence and drive which lends his films and Fitzcarraldo in particular a slight air of madness. You get the feeling that no matter what, Herzog’s projects will be finished...
- 1/7/2011
- by Kris Tebbs
- Obsessed with Film
[Our thanks to Michel Thein for the following review.]
Considering Fatih Akin's catalog of films, one might not think that he could write and direct a comedy that wouldn't feel bleak like Head-on or excessively passionate like Solino. One might go as far as to say that it might turn out to be not that much of a funny movie. Then came the trailer and it looked exactly like the man's films always look, a sense for detail in composition of frame and a sense for color and colorfulness of life and sure enough there were some laughs in the trailer that looked clever and natural but would he be able to pull it off for 99minutes?
Going into the movie the cast list is already impressive; it's a real who's who of Akin's previous movies. We follow Adam Bousdoukos and Moritz Bleibtreu as Greek brothers from Hamburg as they transform their snack shop into a real thriving hot spot for music,...
Considering Fatih Akin's catalog of films, one might not think that he could write and direct a comedy that wouldn't feel bleak like Head-on or excessively passionate like Solino. One might go as far as to say that it might turn out to be not that much of a funny movie. Then came the trailer and it looked exactly like the man's films always look, a sense for detail in composition of frame and a sense for color and colorfulness of life and sure enough there were some laughs in the trailer that looked clever and natural but would he be able to pull it off for 99minutes?
Going into the movie the cast list is already impressive; it's a real who's who of Akin's previous movies. We follow Adam Bousdoukos and Moritz Bleibtreu as Greek brothers from Hamburg as they transform their snack shop into a real thriving hot spot for music,...
- 12/20/2009
- Screen Anarchy
Screened
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- "Head-On" (Gegan die Wand) is an intense, romantic, funny-sad, sometimes harrowing, always moving portrait of cultural estrangement and the power of love. The immediate subject of Fatih Akin's fourth feature as a writer and director is German residents of Turkish extraction. But his film achieves a universality that makes the situation easily understood by audiences anywhere. It could be Algerians in France or Chinese in America, and this would be the same story. The film, which won the Berlin festival's Golden Bear, deserves wide exposure on the festival circuit followed by key art house dates.
Akin has drawn strong performances from his entire cast, especially his main actors, veteran Birol Unel and newcomer Sibel Kekilli. They play two thoroughly Westernized Turks living in Hamburg who can't come to terms with the East/West divide in their souls. Unel's Cahit is an anti-social alcoholic, trying unsuccessfully to drown the pain of his wife's death. Kekilli's Sibel is a 20-year-old free spirit desperate to escape her strict Muslim family, including an overprotective brother. They meet in a psychiatric hospital after each has attempted suicide.
Sibel begs Cahit for a marriage of convenience that will allow her to leave her family's home. Eventually, he agrees. For a while, things go great: She keeps the place tidy and fixes better meals than he is used to. He gets drunk every night, usually winding up in a stupor, while she goes to bed with as many guys as she pleases.
The problem is that the two gradually fall in love. Then Cahit kills one of her lovers in a jealous rage. He winds up in the pen, while she, promising to wait for him, flees her family to Istanbul. There she debases herself in an orgy of self-destruction.
The film feels like a comedy for a while, but by smoothly introducing tragic elements, Akin deepens our understanding of the world of second-generation Turkish immigrants and allows his characters, both unrepentant hedonists, to express their individuality without concern for genre conventions. Predictability is shattered as each character is forced to confront his dark side and find the means to make peace with himself.
"Head-On" is a compelling movie in spite of -- or is it actually because of? -- the self-destructive nature of its two protagonists. They fight so hard for every bit of happiness they earn, yet culture and circumstances fight back even harder.
All of which makes the film sound like a complete downer. Actually, some of it is quite funny. Cahit pointing out to Sibel that she failed to slash her wrists in a manner that would ensure her demise is bleakly funny. But other scenes are cheerfully funny, like Cahit's encounter with a Turkish cabbie in Istanbul where they discover they are both "Germans".
Technical credits are fine, including Rainer Klausmann's sharp camerawork and musical interludes featuring songs of lost or unrequited love played by a six-piece band against an Istanbul skyline.
Gegan die Wand
Wueste in association with Corazon International, NDR/Arte
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Fatih Akin
Producers: Ralph Schwingel, Stefan Schubert
Director of photography: Rainer Klausmann
Production designer: Tamo Kunz
Music consultant: Klaus Maeck
Co-producer: Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel, Mehmet Kurtulus
Costume designer: Katrin Aschendorf
Editor: Andrew Bird
Cast:
Cahit: Birol Unel
Sibel: Sibel Kekilli
Maren: Catrin Striebeck
Seref: Guven Kirac
Selma: Meltem Cumbul
Yimaz Guner: Cem Akin
Running time -- 122 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- "Head-On" (Gegan die Wand) is an intense, romantic, funny-sad, sometimes harrowing, always moving portrait of cultural estrangement and the power of love. The immediate subject of Fatih Akin's fourth feature as a writer and director is German residents of Turkish extraction. But his film achieves a universality that makes the situation easily understood by audiences anywhere. It could be Algerians in France or Chinese in America, and this would be the same story. The film, which won the Berlin festival's Golden Bear, deserves wide exposure on the festival circuit followed by key art house dates.
Akin has drawn strong performances from his entire cast, especially his main actors, veteran Birol Unel and newcomer Sibel Kekilli. They play two thoroughly Westernized Turks living in Hamburg who can't come to terms with the East/West divide in their souls. Unel's Cahit is an anti-social alcoholic, trying unsuccessfully to drown the pain of his wife's death. Kekilli's Sibel is a 20-year-old free spirit desperate to escape her strict Muslim family, including an overprotective brother. They meet in a psychiatric hospital after each has attempted suicide.
Sibel begs Cahit for a marriage of convenience that will allow her to leave her family's home. Eventually, he agrees. For a while, things go great: She keeps the place tidy and fixes better meals than he is used to. He gets drunk every night, usually winding up in a stupor, while she goes to bed with as many guys as she pleases.
The problem is that the two gradually fall in love. Then Cahit kills one of her lovers in a jealous rage. He winds up in the pen, while she, promising to wait for him, flees her family to Istanbul. There she debases herself in an orgy of self-destruction.
The film feels like a comedy for a while, but by smoothly introducing tragic elements, Akin deepens our understanding of the world of second-generation Turkish immigrants and allows his characters, both unrepentant hedonists, to express their individuality without concern for genre conventions. Predictability is shattered as each character is forced to confront his dark side and find the means to make peace with himself.
"Head-On" is a compelling movie in spite of -- or is it actually because of? -- the self-destructive nature of its two protagonists. They fight so hard for every bit of happiness they earn, yet culture and circumstances fight back even harder.
All of which makes the film sound like a complete downer. Actually, some of it is quite funny. Cahit pointing out to Sibel that she failed to slash her wrists in a manner that would ensure her demise is bleakly funny. But other scenes are cheerfully funny, like Cahit's encounter with a Turkish cabbie in Istanbul where they discover they are both "Germans".
Technical credits are fine, including Rainer Klausmann's sharp camerawork and musical interludes featuring songs of lost or unrequited love played by a six-piece band against an Istanbul skyline.
Gegan die Wand
Wueste in association with Corazon International, NDR/Arte
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Fatih Akin
Producers: Ralph Schwingel, Stefan Schubert
Director of photography: Rainer Klausmann
Production designer: Tamo Kunz
Music consultant: Klaus Maeck
Co-producer: Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel, Mehmet Kurtulus
Costume designer: Katrin Aschendorf
Editor: Andrew Bird
Cast:
Cahit: Birol Unel
Sibel: Sibel Kekilli
Maren: Catrin Striebeck
Seref: Guven Kirac
Selma: Meltem Cumbul
Yimaz Guner: Cem Akin
Running time -- 122 minutes
No MPAA rating...
BERLIN -- Fatih Akin's Berlin Golden Bear winner Head-On blasted through the competition at this year's Lolas, winning five statuettes including best picture, best director and acting awards for stars Sibel Kekilli and Birol Unel. Rainer Klausmann nabbed the best cinematography nod to round out the film's haul. "It feels pretty good up here," Akin joked Friday as he accepted his Lola, marking the first time the critically acclaimed helmer has won Germany's top film honor. "I've been nominated a few times, and you always feel sort of lousy when you don't win -- but now that I'm up here, I can tell all of you: It's really not that bad." Soenke Wortmann's soccer drama The Miracle of Bern scored three Lolas, winning a silver runner-up prize and sweeping the public awards -- as voted by German moviegoers -- for best film and best actor, the latter for star Peter Lohmeyer.
- 6/20/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Screened
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- "Head-On" (Gegan die Wand) is an intense, romantic, funny-sad, sometimes harrowing, always moving portrait of cultural estrangement and the power of love. The immediate subject of Fatih Akin's fourth feature as a writer and director is German residents of Turkish extraction. But his film achieves a universality that makes the situation easily understood by audiences anywhere. It could be Algerians in France or Chinese in America, and this would be the same story. The film, which won the Berlin festival's Golden Bear, deserves wide exposure on the festival circuit followed by key art house dates.
Akin has drawn strong performances from his entire cast, especially his main actors, veteran Birol Unel and newcomer Sibel Kekilli. They play two thoroughly Westernized Turks living in Hamburg who can't come to terms with the East/West divide in their souls. Unel's Cahit is an anti-social alcoholic, trying unsuccessfully to drown the pain of his wife's death. Kekilli's Sibel is a 20-year-old free spirit desperate to escape her strict Muslim family, including an overprotective brother. They meet in a psychiatric hospital after each has attempted suicide.
Sibel begs Cahit for a marriage of convenience that will allow her to leave her family's home. Eventually, he agrees. For a while, things go great: She keeps the place tidy and fixes better meals than he is used to. He gets drunk every night, usually winding up in a stupor, while she goes to bed with as many guys as she pleases.
The problem is that the two gradually fall in love. Then Cahit kills one of her lovers in a jealous rage. He winds up in the pen, while she, promising to wait for him, flees her family to Istanbul. There she debases herself in an orgy of self-destruction.
The film feels like a comedy for a while, but by smoothly introducing tragic elements, Akin deepens our understanding of the world of second-generation Turkish immigrants and allows his characters, both unrepentant hedonists, to express their individuality without concern for genre conventions. Predictability is shattered as each character is forced to confront his dark side and find the means to make peace with himself.
"Head-On" is a compelling movie in spite of -- or is it actually because of? -- the self-destructive nature of its two protagonists. They fight so hard for every bit of happiness they earn, yet culture and circumstances fight back even harder.
All of which makes the film sound like a complete downer. Actually, some of it is quite funny. Cahit pointing out to Sibel that she failed to slash her wrists in a manner that would ensure her demise is bleakly funny. But other scenes are cheerfully funny, like Cahit's encounter with a Turkish cabbie in Istanbul where they discover they are both "Germans".
Technical credits are fine, including Rainer Klausmann's sharp camerawork and musical interludes featuring songs of lost or unrequited love played by a six-piece band against an Istanbul skyline.
Gegan die Wand
Wueste in association with Corazon International, NDR/Arte
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Fatih Akin
Producers: Ralph Schwingel, Stefan Schubert
Director of photography: Rainer Klausmann
Production designer: Tamo Kunz
Music consultant: Klaus Maeck
Co-producer: Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel, Mehmet Kurtulus
Costume designer: Katrin Aschendorf
Editor: Andrew Bird
Cast:
Cahit: Birol Unel
Sibel: Sibel Kekilli
Maren: Catrin Striebeck
Seref: Guven Kirac
Selma: Meltem Cumbul
Yimaz Guner: Cem Akin
Running time -- 122 minutes
No MPAA rating...
Berlin International Film Festival
BERLIN -- "Head-On" (Gegan die Wand) is an intense, romantic, funny-sad, sometimes harrowing, always moving portrait of cultural estrangement and the power of love. The immediate subject of Fatih Akin's fourth feature as a writer and director is German residents of Turkish extraction. But his film achieves a universality that makes the situation easily understood by audiences anywhere. It could be Algerians in France or Chinese in America, and this would be the same story. The film, which won the Berlin festival's Golden Bear, deserves wide exposure on the festival circuit followed by key art house dates.
Akin has drawn strong performances from his entire cast, especially his main actors, veteran Birol Unel and newcomer Sibel Kekilli. They play two thoroughly Westernized Turks living in Hamburg who can't come to terms with the East/West divide in their souls. Unel's Cahit is an anti-social alcoholic, trying unsuccessfully to drown the pain of his wife's death. Kekilli's Sibel is a 20-year-old free spirit desperate to escape her strict Muslim family, including an overprotective brother. They meet in a psychiatric hospital after each has attempted suicide.
Sibel begs Cahit for a marriage of convenience that will allow her to leave her family's home. Eventually, he agrees. For a while, things go great: She keeps the place tidy and fixes better meals than he is used to. He gets drunk every night, usually winding up in a stupor, while she goes to bed with as many guys as she pleases.
The problem is that the two gradually fall in love. Then Cahit kills one of her lovers in a jealous rage. He winds up in the pen, while she, promising to wait for him, flees her family to Istanbul. There she debases herself in an orgy of self-destruction.
The film feels like a comedy for a while, but by smoothly introducing tragic elements, Akin deepens our understanding of the world of second-generation Turkish immigrants and allows his characters, both unrepentant hedonists, to express their individuality without concern for genre conventions. Predictability is shattered as each character is forced to confront his dark side and find the means to make peace with himself.
"Head-On" is a compelling movie in spite of -- or is it actually because of? -- the self-destructive nature of its two protagonists. They fight so hard for every bit of happiness they earn, yet culture and circumstances fight back even harder.
All of which makes the film sound like a complete downer. Actually, some of it is quite funny. Cahit pointing out to Sibel that she failed to slash her wrists in a manner that would ensure her demise is bleakly funny. But other scenes are cheerfully funny, like Cahit's encounter with a Turkish cabbie in Istanbul where they discover they are both "Germans".
Technical credits are fine, including Rainer Klausmann's sharp camerawork and musical interludes featuring songs of lost or unrequited love played by a six-piece band against an Istanbul skyline.
Gegan die Wand
Wueste in association with Corazon International, NDR/Arte
Credits:
Screenwriter-director: Fatih Akin
Producers: Ralph Schwingel, Stefan Schubert
Director of photography: Rainer Klausmann
Production designer: Tamo Kunz
Music consultant: Klaus Maeck
Co-producer: Fatih Akin, Andreas Thiel, Mehmet Kurtulus
Costume designer: Katrin Aschendorf
Editor: Andrew Bird
Cast:
Cahit: Birol Unel
Sibel: Sibel Kekilli
Maren: Catrin Striebeck
Seref: Guven Kirac
Selma: Meltem Cumbul
Yimaz Guner: Cem Akin
Running time -- 122 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/19/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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