Reviews (24)

Erdogan reestablishes himself as a good filmmaker once again with the first Christmas movie ever in the history of Turkish Cinema. The theme and setting is a not-too-subtle but still very clever reflection of the torn-culture of contemporary Turkey. The whole irony is summed up with the scene where Erdogan in a Santa costume greets other Santas with a nonchalant "Selamaleykum".

Unlike his previous movies, Erdogan does not work with the veteran cast of the BKM troupe. Most of the roles big and small are filled with the youngsters- who give solid performances under a solid direction.

"Neseli Hayat" is a good, heart-warming story with invaluable insights and observations of modern Turkish society, and you should see it before a big Hollywood action flick squeezes it out of your local theatre.

When I posted a review of A.R.O.G. a couple years ago I wrote that "Cem Yilmaz is financing his future good movie with a bad one". Judging by the pattern he followed until that day, I hoped that his next movie would a good one such as "Hokkabaz" or "Hersey Cok Güzel Olacak"... I was wrong.

Despite the wonderful visual effects, impeccable decor and costume, electrifying music, and so many other technical achievements worthy of praise, the movie is ultimately a bad one. The screenplay is too long and inflated with so many witless jokes. It is formulaic, repetitive and unoriginal. It is basically G.O.R.A. (or A.R.O.G.) in the wild west. Turkish comedy should outgrow fart-jokes, accent-abuse and overused unsubtle cross-culture references.

Even the decor has problems, since there is a nylon American flag in Sheriff Lloyd's office, and poker is played with plastic chips. After all that attention to detail, stuff like that ruins everything.

The fact that the movie is a lengthy commercial for a cola drink is also disturbing.

One clever thing Cem Yilmaz did with the script is to make it a story told by a shifty-eyed antique dealer. That saves him from a whole lot of criticism. Maybe if he had hired a professional screenplay doctor from Hollywood instead of a visual effects artist, the movie would be a much better one.

Before watching this movie I considered myself a fan of Ezel Akay and liked everything he was involved in creatively. "Neredesin Firuze" and "Karagöz ve Hacivat Neden Öldürüldü" were among my favorite movies. He seemed to get better with every project - that is until this disorganized flop.

"7 Kocali Hürmüz" is a well-known Turkish musical loved by generations. This 2009 remake is unworthy of it. This movie actually butchers, vandalizes, oversimplifies, and simply ruins that memory with awful acting, badly designed decor and costumes, but mostly with of a horrible screenplay riddled with witless lumpen humor.

There are so many things to criticize in the movie, but still being a fan of Akay, I will cut it short and hope that he would learn from this debacle to get back on the right track. I suspect that his failure is partly caused by the creative involvement of Cem Özer and Nurgül Yesilcay, who are the pushers of the project.

Cem Yilmaz is a talented comedian and a good filmmaker. He is also a good businessman. He makes two kinds of movies: Good ones, and bad ones to finance the good ones.

A.R.O.G. is a bad one. Much like its predecessor, G.O.R.A., it uses the decades-old parody styles of Mel Brooks and Zucker-Abrams-Zucker. With such movies, Cem Yilmaz captures larger, easily-satisfied crowds - swindle them out of their money (they would eventually spend that excess money on some other crap they won't need anyways), and put those resources into good use: making a real good movie such as 'Hokkabaz' or 'Hersey Cok Guzel Olacak'...

Although I was one of the suckers who paid a few bucks for this no-good, boring, longer-than-necessary, unoriginal, extravagantly expensive eye- candy - I do not feel too bad with the hope that Cem Yilmaz will make a movie worth praise in a couple years from now, and I will feel somewhat proud to be one of the millions of producers of that flick.

So, to summarize: If you are tired of dragging that thick wallet of yours and looking for a place to spend money just for fun... Just go give the money directly to Cem Yilmaz and do not watch the movie anyways. There are many attractions that are cheaper and more fun... Say, stay home tonight, clip your nails... give yourself electric shocks, or something... whatever.

"Devrim Arabalari" is one of the best period movies Turkish cinema ever produced, with its fascinating screenplay, well-built and portrayed characters, and an inspiring story.

The movie tells the story of the Turkish attempt to build a "national automobile" in the 1960s, shortly after the military coup that replaced a "pro-American authoritarian democracy" with an "independent-minded libertarian junta" (Yes, you read it right). Main protagonists are the idealist engineers of the State Railroad Directorate, who undertook the impossible task of designing and building of an automobile from scratch only in 130 days.

Director Ornek and his well-picked cast takes us through the 4-month period of hard-work that produced the "Devrim" (Revolution) to a backdrop of Turkish political situation that followed the military coup. Both the screenplay and direction are praiseworthy, and Tolga Ornek deserves much of the credit for keeping it simple, subtle and fascinating.

Unlike most other contemporary Turkish movies full of popular names and pretty faces, all the actors are "actors", each with well-deserved respectability and genuine talent. Everyone does a good job in making their characters real and fascinating enough.

See it.

After the success of 'Babam ve Oglum' many moviegoers were herded under the impression that Cagan Irmak is a good filmmaker and his next work will be a gem. Others however, hated the straight-to-video pseudo-thriller stuff he did afterwards and their hopes were not very high about the fantastic 'Ulak'. As a member of the latter bunch I'm 'sad' to say we are vindicated by the badly-done, disorganized, no-plot, confused flop Irmak produced this time.

I really hoped to see a rare example of Turkish fantastic cinema done-decent when I agreed to pay for two expensive tickets. However, after about 20 minutes Irmak started squandering the reputation he built with 'Babam ve Oglum' with his sloppy storytelling. The movie had a very weak plot, a over-simplistic message related with no grace or subtlety, the writing was pretentious and mostly sloppy.

One thing must be said: The cast is one of the strongest one can muster in Turkey, including the child-actors. However, even such a stellar cast and their genuine acting can not save a movie this badly done.

This was a very big disappointment for me. So much wasted energy, money, and extraordinary acting talent...

Propaganda is another failed attempt by Sinan Cetin to make decent, above-average movie. The experience and talent of the cast list seems to give him a head-start in Propaganda, but he squanders this credit with usual sloppiness and lack of imagination. Even so, Propaganda is not as unwatchable as his older movies.

Sinan Cetin is a spoiled, pretentious, unimaginative demagogue with no decent story-telling skills, and he generally builds his movies around empty, overly-populist, lumpen, pseudo-critiques of the 'system'. He is a consistently bad director, and his movies must be avoided at all costs.

Propaganda, fails miserably especially at the finale, where Cetin once again plays his cheap demagogical tune with a 'rally around the flag' trick with no subtlety, no wit, and certainly with no success.

To be honest, Propaganda is Cetin's best work (which is sad). So if you really need to have an idea of him, watch this one.

If you are interested in Turkish cinema, and you want a few titles to get you started with, do not ever think about seeing a Sinan Cetin movie. He is a talented director unless he directs a feature film that is longer than several minutes.

Komiser Sekspir is one of the several movies Sinan Cetin directed over the years, ranging from bad to very bad, and Cetin fails once more. He is a spoiled, pretentious, unimaginative demagogue with no decent story-telling skills, and he generally builds his movies around empty, overly-populist, lumpen, pseudo-critiques of the 'system'.

The movie is badly written, actors -although experienced and talented- run around like headless chickens, plot (if there is one) is full of holes, and jokes are devoid of taste and wit. Do not see it under any circumstances, even if your life depends on it. Seriously.

Takva attempts to achieve two things; It is a philosophical drama, and also a quasi-documentary. Putting the main character in a low-profile religious order, and in a ethical conundrum, the movie makers hit two birds with one reel.

Religious orders and their role in the growing politicization of Islam in Turkey is a sensitive subject. The movie refrains from saying much politically, or the characters do not have lines that can be interpreted in such a manner. However, 'Takva the documentary' speaks volumes.

Takva has good actors such as Erkan Can (the lead), a straightforward but engaging story, and a lot to learn from.

Contemporary Turkish cinema produces 20-30 movies every year (not counting straight-to-video or TV stuff) and about half of them are good, decent movies worth watching. Mehmet Ali Erbil generally is the lead in the other half.

As a golden rule, never watch a movie with Mehmet Ali Erbil. He is not a good actor, has no comedic talent beyond fart jokes, and no sense of appropriateness or decency. He apparently has a following who enjoys to see his torturous TV shows, and ready to pay for more of that crap in movie theaters.

Also, never watch a Turkish comedy that tries to emulate the American ZAZ movies of the 80s. They invariably suck because of poor writing coupled with bad casting.

Finally, to be specific for the ones who are late to take the hint, never see this movie. Actually, forget that this movie existed...

I have to admit from the beginning that I did not like the movie at all, but it does not mean that it was a bad movie. It was synthetic, artificial, out-of-place, foreign and unwelcoming. I did not believe anything in the movie for a second, since every move and every line reeked absurdity. I do not know how much of it was intended by the director, and what its purpose was...

The scenes were disturbingly empty, and camera positions were always awkward. If the director wanted to enhance the air of surrealism by that, he succeeded. But again, why? As the finale closed, I became more and more annoyed and bored, even though Haluk Bilginer was on the screen. For me, the presence of Haluk Bilginer on the cast always guarantees a decent movie, but I think this was the exception to the rule, for reasons beyond him.

I get the feeling that this director confuses being original with filling his movie with obtuse homages to marginal cinema examples around the world. (A Turkish cinemamaker does not have such luxury. I'm afraid he will either be weeded out by natural selection, or possibly opt to make more mainstream, box-office stuff.) Giving the director the benefit of the doubt, I sincerely hope that this was an experiment, not a failure. I'll try to see the next movie this director makes, but I will not pay for it...

This is good, light-hearted quasi-thriller (?) that succeeds without really trying to, or may be succeeds because it does not try too hard. Director Sorak seems to get the right lessons from the mistakes in G.O.R.A., or may be he fares better since 'Sinav' (The Exam) is his own project. Editing is better, seamless and fascinating. Turkish directors in general, Sorak included, are getting better and better at controlling the tempo lately.

The movie is about a small circle of friends, all high-school students under the stress of the approaching annual nationwide university entrance exam. They decide to ease their way by stealing the questions of the exam at all costs, even if they had pay thousands of bucks to hire a double-o-seven type.

The mixture of experienced and young actors do a good job with believable performances, they look and act real, even when things seem to go absurd for a while. It even has Jean-Claude Van Damme in a small but important cameo role to garnish. Any high kicks? well, one... kinda.

Turkish cinema produces about 25-30 movies a year - This one is one of the several that are actually worth watching.

I cannot believe I am writing a review for this stinking piece of garbage... Why! Why would anyone write, produce, direct, act in, or just be associated with such an abomination...

This movie is supposed to be a sequel to awful but well-known movie known as "Turkish Star Wars". That movie was the second worst thing happened to Turkish image after 'Midnight Express'. This one is a close third. The original movie was made by unexperienced youngsters with misguided idealism and without money. This one must be written by a thousand retarded monkeys on crack.

There is no decent plot, or script, or anything that makes sense. The direction is bad, acting is ridiculous, editing is awful. There is really nothing to say about it.

This movie is so bad, I felt insulted. Never see it... Never.

"Organize Isler" is a decent comedy-drama that is sometimes clever but occasionally loses its charm. The name Yilmaz Erdogan always guaranties a good film as his writing talents and the exemplary BKM troupe work smoothly in every project. Erdogan always creates clever plots that the audience could discover another layer with every screening, which, is my opinion, a characteristic only the best movies have. However, 'Organize Isler' has less layers, or at least less interesting layers compared to his earlier works.

Casting seems to be a problem Erdogan has to deal with with every project. Since BKM troupe's long roster of talented actors generally outnumbers the necessary characters in a movie, the danger of 'over-casting' or 'mis-casting' looms large. One can see the effects of this issue in "Organize Isler" (for example the appearance of Iclal Aydin is totally unnecessary in my opinion, without any real contribution to the story told).

The movie is good, clever and entertaining. All actors are good, dependable, experienced and they work with each other well. Cem Yilmaz, who commands more and more respect as an actor with every movie he is in, enhances the value of the movie tremendously, and it seems his special relationship with Erdogan adds to their productivity. The production values are high, with wonderful aerial shots of Istanbul - which, like a constrictor python, seems more beautiful than it really is if you look from far above.

Another personal criticism of mine, which has little to do with the artistic side of the production, is the way the movie puts a human face on the gangsters who ruthlessly rob, kill and terrorize the streets of Istanbul. Although the film watches like a light-hearted anti-hero flick, I find it hard to feel for the "poor, good hearted" robbers with BMWs who would drag an old lady to death if she wont let her purse go.

"Karagoz Hacivat Neden Olduruldu" is Akay and Kazak's take of the legendary personalities Karagoz and Hacivat who are the main characters of Turkish shadow theater. Although their life stories are not known, Akay and Kazak tell a very plausible story that could easily be true. True or not, their story fits exactly what they symbolize - the synthesis of crude and sophisticated humor freely targeting dishonesty, corruption, unfairness and inequality in society.

The setting is the early 14th century, when Byzantian and Seljuk Empires were in shambles following the destructive Mongolian invasion. At the Muslim/Christian borderlands, and out of the reach of the now weakening Mongolian power, the Ottoman State is at its infancy, rapidly expanding at the expense of the neighboring Byzantian and Turkish principalities. Since the cultural homogenization is not as fast as military conquests, a colorful, eclectic intermixing of cultures is underway. This is the perfect breeding ground for the elements Akay seems to take his inspirations from, and he weaves them into his story so masterfully.

Ezel Akay seems to reach his maturity at a very early stage. With his second movie, he already has a signature style and an efficient formula to make the audience laugh and cry with only a snap of a finger. He has absolute emotional control over the audience, thanks to his masterful use of visuals and music.

He also owes a lot to Haluk Bilginer (Karagoz), who is an acting genius. (His talents seem to include Mongolian throat singing if my ears did not deceive me). Beyazit Öztürk (Hacivat) is not as talented an actor, but he is the wisest choice for the role. Another good casting is Güven Kirac as the villain. He has such a wide acting range, he gave me the impression that he could have played almost all the roles in the movie.

Like Akay's earlier movie 'Neredesin Firuze', the music is outstanding - Central Asian Turko-Mongolian tunes yet to be "contaminated" by Middle Eastern influences, beginning to clash with already eclectic Eastern Roman-Judaic melodies. The dynamic synthetic nature of the music parallels with the cultural synthesis what early Ottoman state and society building is all about.

Oligarkh, is an average movie about a group of friends taking advantage of the opportunities "new Russia" offered after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The movie has certain value in giving a rough sketch of how the vacuum left by the collapsed communist system was filled by various criminal elements. However, it fails to do that comprehensively, possibly because, as it targets the Russian audience, it assumes too much information. The transformation of the 'naive, jolly group of friends" into a vicious, ruthless, hierarchical criminal organization is not well demonstrated, phases of changes in characters' world views and emotions largely left to the imagination of the audience. Since the story is told going back and forth in time, some of the criticism can be overlooked, but one cannot help but notice some plot holes. Moreover, it ends in a quite cheesy way, reminding a cheap Hollywood B-movie, something I do not hope to see in a supposedly-sophisticated Russian movie.

The acting is generally good, but not outstanding. I thought supporting characters were more impressive than the hero, and I especially liked the commissar and his style. Direction is not bad, and actually it made me think that it was directed by a talented, but inexperienced director. It seems Lungin has a longer career than I expected.

Neredesin Firuze is a fast-moving, very colorful and lively movie. Ezel Akay, still new to the big screen, successfully demonstrates his original style in film-making. His scenes are crowded, painted in rich, festive colors, and things are in movement most of the time. Despite the continuous movement, sometimes-distracting environments and loud music, Akay seems to be able to keep the tempo under control and he cleverly uses it to visualize emotion.

Despite the movie is essentially a light-hearted satire of the popular culture in modern Turkey, it partially endorses it by employing both thespians and 'popular' people with less cinema experience. Nevertheless, From the master Haluk Bilginer to the singer-to-actor Ozcan Deniz, all the cast members do their job well in this spinning juke-box, and the movie does not bore you for even a second.

The soundtrack is exceptionally good, full of original music and modernized traditional Turkish songs performed by the most popular -and generally, talented- singers in the industry. Even if you do not want to see the movie, give the sound-track a try.

Hersey Cok Guzel Olacak is one of the best products contemporary Turkish cinema can offer, with its modest but solid direction, clever script, and outstanding acting. It is the story of two brothers living in Istanbul, with very different characters, world views, and ambitions. Their differences prove effective as the generator of the comedic effect, although -in my opinion- this movie is also a solid drama rather than a simple comedy.

Altan, played by the ever-popular stand-up comedian Cem Yilmaz, is a penniless dreamer, who has plans to open his own pub. He decides to steal some prescription drugs from his brother's pharmacy, and sell them to the mafia in order to get the capital necessary quickly. Long story short, the two brothers find themselves on a dangerous road trip to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey, and adventure unfolds.

In his first serious on-screen job, Cem Yilmaz seems surprisingly able in his portrayal of Altan, and demonstrates that he can really act. Mazhar Alanson, who is the lead singer of arguably the best pop music group in Turkey, is also worthy of praise as the older brother. Not many know that he was actually trained as a thespian, and he reminds the audience of this fact with his commanding presence in the film. The late master Selim Nasit also gives his last performance as their father.

The movie is exceptionally good, clever, consistently fascinating, warm and funny. Labelling it one of the best of Turkish cinema will not be an exaggeration.

Hababam Sinifi Askerde is the second remake/sequel of the 1970s hit films adapted from the great Turkish satire writer Rifat Ilgaz' novel. The original series, with its good and bad moments, was a bunch of heart-warming stories in the memories of many. This, on the other hand, is nothing but an abomination attempting to capitalize on that old, naive memory.

Nothing about this movie is worth the slightest amount of praise except occasional moments when individual actors do something right to get a slight smile from the audience. There is almost no sophisticated comic effort or clever twist, just blatant swearing and fart-jokes targeting the lowest-level intelligence. The cast list is one full of inexplicably popular but painfully talentless names, and Kemal Kenan Ergen fails to produce a script worthy of the late grand master Rifat Ilgaz.

Kesanli Ali Destani (the Legend of Ali of Kesan) is one of the best-known musical plays of Turkish theatre. This is the televized version of the play, produced by TRT, Turkish public television.

Kesanli Ali returns home in an Istanbul slum, after a long prison sentence. There he is received as a hero since what put him in the pen was killing a bully terrorizing the neighborhood for so long. Turns out his legend is actually, 'just a legend', the real story being far from heroic. His reputation as a neighborhood hero and his rekindling old love with Zilha was put in jeopardy as he struggles between keeping appearances and honesty.

One of the biggest productions at the time, the play gathers a wonderful selection of actors. This is without doubt a shining example of Turkish musical theatre caught on tape.

Kurtulus is the 6-episode (6x1 hour) TV series telling the story of the Turkish War of Liberation (It also has a shortened film version, but its no good). It covers a 4 year time period starting from the Allied invasion of the Ottoman Empire following the First World War up to the Victory of the Turkish Nationalist Movement in Ankara against the invading Greek army in Western Anatolia.

With a record size budget, an army of actors and extras (literally, with whole divisions of the Turkish Army), and an unprecedented nation-wide production effort, Kurtulus stands alone as the biggest project in the history of Turkish cinema/TV. Almost every serious actor in the country plays a part, big or small.

The director, Ziya Oztan, does a good job integrating drama with documentary, and the series can satisfy the fans of both.

Gonul Yarasi is an above average movie in the tradition of classical Turkish drama. Idealist elementary school teacher Nazim (named after the great communist poet Nazim Hikmet) retires and returns home, Istanbul, after a 15 year term in the poor, forgotten Kurdish-Alevite village in Eastern Turkey. Politely ignored by his children who secretly despise him since he chose his ideal over his family long ago, he begins a new (night)life as a taxi driver. There he meets a fallen single mother who works as a "singer" in a sleazy night club. He takes the mother and her daugther in to protect them from the stalker ex-husband, falls in love with her, and the drama unfolds.

Yavuz Turgul, a master of storytelling, is not at his best, and the film cannot surpass his former masterpieces such as 'Eskiya' or 'Golge Oyunu' - though the movie is among the best of the season. Sener Sen, Meltem Cumbul and Guven Kirac give solid performances, but Timucin Esen proves outstanding with his portrayal of the multi-faceted, psychologically unstable ex-husband. The film, in the Yavuz Turgul tradition, inevitably ends with the tragedy-redemption-hope sequence.

Turgul likes to give subliminal social and political messages in his movies, but he is less subtle in this one.

Sasifelek Cikmazi is a hilarious, heart-warming, energetic TV series. It has an wonderful ensemble cast including some of the best actors in Turkey, and their talent is matched with the fascinating script of Mahinur Ergun. The story is simply the daily life in an old Istanbul neighborhood - 'Sasifelek Cikmazi'. I was always amazed how the producers rounded up so many good actors - and keep them together for so long on one set. The characters are so lifelike and real. Especially the performances of Derya Alabora, Fikret Kuskan, and Suzan Aksoy bring a fascinating energy into the production. It was produced by TRT - Turkish public television, which guarantees a high standard of production quality and subtle social responsibility. I believe it will be well-received in the Balkans, the Meditterranean and Eastern Europe, but it is not meant for a Nordic audience.