Looks like it has been more than ten days since I last posted here. To return here makes me feel as if I have accomplished something, since I didn't abandon this blog like the other two.
There is nothing new in my life which makes me feel nice and warm. I guess change is not always good, especially when you are content with what you have.
New year is here but I find myself not getting excited over it, at all. This seems to be the new thing with me. Usually I'm the sort who jumps up and down with anticipation over even the smallest thing. But I know it will pass since thanks to internet I know that people go through this sort of mood from time to time.
Meanwhile I have seen a new Turkish film that was very good. And this is suprising because Turkish film industry seems to be producing more and more films without taking quality into consideration. Everyone is saying that the industry has come back to life but I agree with a newspaper article I have read today. It resembles this new boost with the Turkish pop boost in the beginning of the nineties. Everybody who can shout made an album those days and in the end nobody gained anything.
So it is suprising to see a horror film tackle an issue which really puts fear into a Turk who has been in the northwestern region of Turkey on 17 August 1999. That's when we had a really nasty earthquake resulting in many deaths and people who suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome. It was really a bad one since we had to get out of the house even though we were many kilometers away from the center of it.
So this brings us to
Small Apocalypse: Directed by Taylan Brothers (Durul and Yağmur Taylan) whose previous film was the decent Okul, strangely enough recommended to me by a cinema lover who is not Turkish.
This time we see a middle class Turkish family (mom dad, small girl and a baby boy) preparing to go on a summer holiday. In addition we have mom's elder sister's two children, a teen boy and girl. Their destination is a summer house they booked on net, which is at a small villiage in south west coast. The night before their trip, they experience a small earthquake (we get them from time to time in Istanbul) and quickly go on the road. The house is decent enough but comes with a view of a cemetery and then inevitably strange things start to happen...
Small apocalyse, we learn in the beginning of the film is what a person feels just before dying.
The film certainly was very effective, especially towards the end. Even though the majority of the viewers will guess what is coming, I don't think anyone else was prepared for the sheer effectiveness of the last scenes. Being a fatalist I was not that scared of the earthquake but even I felt the blood growing cold in my veins.
The cast mostly consists of actors Turks are familiar from a couple of TV shows since they share the same production company. This is a good thing because now they speak with a different accent and are in completely different characters so we can see how truly wonderful they are.
The lead actor who plays mom Bilge is Başak Köklükaya, dad is Cansel Elçin (the reason
my sister came to watch it with me, she follows the TV drama this guy is in) but my favorite was İlker Aksum who is the watchman for the summer house the couple rented. He really nailed the accent of the region and his performance was so nuanced without being overboard.
I really tried to post some pictures but sadly none are available on net here is the web site
if you click on the gallery you get a picture of the brothers and one photo shot during filming.
http://www.kucukkiyamet.com/
So this concludes today's post, and as usual I have had fun!
Thursday, December 28, 2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Current films
With this post I would like to tell you about the films that are currently screening nationwide, with a little info next to the titles, not that I have seen many of them, since I don't get out much nowadays, mostly due to my addiction to Asian films and Korean dramas, which are hard to find in here. You can find the literal translations to English in parantheses)
Çinliler Geliyor (The Chinese are Coming) - this is directed by Zeki Ökten who did some mediocre melodramas and this one is about people in a very small town seeing Chinese people arrive to the municipality building while they are preparing the annual independence day celebrations (here each town and city celebrates their own independance day in addition to the national holiday), and it is such a rare occurence to see a Chinese person in rural Anatolia, that rumours about Chinese people deciding to invest in their town spread very quickly.
Even though the premise looks interesting , the cast is lukewarm at best and it looks like to be a box office failure at its first week.
2 Süper Film Birden (2 Super Films at Once) - this is the first film of director Murat Şeker, and it is an independent film that came on screen mostly via the good will of people who are involved in it. It inevitably tells the story of a man whose dream is to make a film. Of course he going through a lot of difficulties and the only people who believe in him are his wife and his producer. And as if this is not enough, he is entangled with the mob through some unfortunate events.
The film just didn't attract me when I saw the trailer. The release date is 29 September*, so I guess not everyone thinks same as me but still, it was not a box office success.
Araf (Purgatory) Directed by Biray Dalkıran, this film is a horror film received very bad reactions at Turkey's biggest film festival. Everyone hated it since it was "bad acted nonsense". It tells the story of a dance student who had an abortion, then this unlucky woman gets marries, gets pregnant but the previous fetus haunts her. Started showing 06 October*. Bad box office. I didn't see it because one Japanese influenced Turkish horror film was enough to put me out for what seems to be a looong time. This is a story for another post.
Dondurmam Kaymak (Ice Cream I Scream- is the known English title of this film which is this years Oscar race application) Directed by Yüksel Aksu, this film tells the story of an ice cream sales man in a small beach town, who rages some sort of a war against foreign ice creams on a stick. This guy sells Turkish home made ice cream which is yummy. Anyway the whole thing is filmed at director's home town with only one professional actor among the crowded cast.
Never saw it since the trailer turned me off but people like it because apparently it is heart warming. I think this is the comedy version of Not One Less. Released in 24 November.
Eve Dönüş (Returning Home) Written and directed by Ömer Uğur, this film touches a painful period in Turkish history (at the time of the last Military Coup, yeah we had more than one). A factory worker is taken to questioning by the police. This turned out to be a mistaken identity situation since they thought he was a leftist militant. And they tortured him to get information.
This turned out to be a waste of a good story since everyone thinks it is a bad film. The tortures scenes are very long but ineffective (I guess they haven't seen The Passion) and the actors really bad, except the police officer who is the torturer. Release date 3 November.
I didn't see it since didn't want to waste my time on it.
Hayatımın Kadınısın (You are the Woman of My Life) Directed by Uğur Yücel who I really think one of the best living Turkish directors. Mr.Yücel is also a brilliant actor. This film also stars Turkan Soray who I love love love. It looks like she will go on acting as long as she can.
I didn't see this one due to my general staying at home situation. 24 November.
Hokkabaz (Illisionist - but in a deragotary way) I had high hopes for this one since it is written, co directed and acted by one genius man. Turkey's first stand up comic. He is also a great actor. But after watching the film (suprise!) I think that he shouldn't write, and most definitely he shouldn't direct. Two close friends, an illisionist and his male assistant, decide to go on an Anatolia tour to earn money for lasic operation (both have milk bottle glasses). They have to take Illisionist's father who is a few bricks short on the head- in a good way- and they meet a nice girl who needs a break from life. It was simply a mediocre, leaning towards bad film. 20 October*
Kader (Fate) Directed by Zeki Demirkubuz, this is the story three friends in a tangled web of love (or a Gordion's knot if you will as it's described in another site) This director is known for making intelligent, realist films and I actually wanted to see this one. 17 November.
Sınav (The Exam) This one is about 4 students trying to steal the questions for the University Exam. This is a torture for any high school student since if you can't pass it, you can wave your year good bye. You have to wait next year to enter the exam again. (Thank God that I passed this one both times I entered it). So Ömer Faruk Sorak, who is a director with considerable box office success by Turkish standarts films Yiğit Güralp's script and a hybrid of a film shows up on screen. This is a bit similar to Korean films with more than a few genres. It is funny at times and melodramatic, gives social messages and contains a few actions scenes. Also Jean Claude Van Damme has a small part in it (the JCVD visited Turkish Big Brother house was the day I lost all sympathy to that guy). Anyway this one is good - although the director visually overindulges a bit, it doesn't hurt the film overall. 20 October*
Takva (this is an arabic word meaning deep/total belief in God) It is one film I really want to watch since not only it has very good word of mouth but also the story is one I'm very interested in. One guy who is a true believer enters into an Islamic sect and this changes his whole life (I tried to avoid the spoilers but I think it is a negative change) Lead actor Erkan Can is the crown jewel on a solid cast and directed by Önder Çakar, this film got a minor award at Toronto Film Festival.
An anecdote from one member of the cast may shed a sliver of light on Turkey's current condition. While filming praying scenes in an apartment (the sect prayers done in addition to obligatory ones vary and this one was a bit noisy) the residents alerted the police that there is illegal religious activity, so the police came to the apartment and they were convinced that the people are actors shooting a film. One of them said after seeing a poster of Che in one of the rooms said "I have never been happier after seeing a Che poster". I will write more about this film after I watch is inşaallah. 1 December.
* These films are long gone from big city cinemas and only shown at the small cities.
The information came from a site I always use to check on which film is in which theatre etc. Unfortunately it is in Turkish but here it is anyway.
http://www.beyazperde.com/default.asp
Çinliler Geliyor (The Chinese are Coming) - this is directed by Zeki Ökten who did some mediocre melodramas and this one is about people in a very small town seeing Chinese people arrive to the municipality building while they are preparing the annual independence day celebrations (here each town and city celebrates their own independance day in addition to the national holiday), and it is such a rare occurence to see a Chinese person in rural Anatolia, that rumours about Chinese people deciding to invest in their town spread very quickly.
Even though the premise looks interesting , the cast is lukewarm at best and it looks like to be a box office failure at its first week.
2 Süper Film Birden (2 Super Films at Once) - this is the first film of director Murat Şeker, and it is an independent film that came on screen mostly via the good will of people who are involved in it. It inevitably tells the story of a man whose dream is to make a film. Of course he going through a lot of difficulties and the only people who believe in him are his wife and his producer. And as if this is not enough, he is entangled with the mob through some unfortunate events.
The film just didn't attract me when I saw the trailer. The release date is 29 September*, so I guess not everyone thinks same as me but still, it was not a box office success.
Araf (Purgatory) Directed by Biray Dalkıran, this film is a horror film received very bad reactions at Turkey's biggest film festival. Everyone hated it since it was "bad acted nonsense". It tells the story of a dance student who had an abortion, then this unlucky woman gets marries, gets pregnant but the previous fetus haunts her. Started showing 06 October*. Bad box office. I didn't see it because one Japanese influenced Turkish horror film was enough to put me out for what seems to be a looong time. This is a story for another post.
Dondurmam Kaymak (Ice Cream I Scream- is the known English title of this film which is this years Oscar race application) Directed by Yüksel Aksu, this film tells the story of an ice cream sales man in a small beach town, who rages some sort of a war against foreign ice creams on a stick. This guy sells Turkish home made ice cream which is yummy. Anyway the whole thing is filmed at director's home town with only one professional actor among the crowded cast.
Never saw it since the trailer turned me off but people like it because apparently it is heart warming. I think this is the comedy version of Not One Less. Released in 24 November.
Eve Dönüş (Returning Home) Written and directed by Ömer Uğur, this film touches a painful period in Turkish history (at the time of the last Military Coup, yeah we had more than one). A factory worker is taken to questioning by the police. This turned out to be a mistaken identity situation since they thought he was a leftist militant. And they tortured him to get information.
This turned out to be a waste of a good story since everyone thinks it is a bad film. The tortures scenes are very long but ineffective (I guess they haven't seen The Passion) and the actors really bad, except the police officer who is the torturer. Release date 3 November.
I didn't see it since didn't want to waste my time on it.
Hayatımın Kadınısın (You are the Woman of My Life) Directed by Uğur Yücel who I really think one of the best living Turkish directors. Mr.Yücel is also a brilliant actor. This film also stars Turkan Soray who I love love love. It looks like she will go on acting as long as she can.
I didn't see this one due to my general staying at home situation. 24 November.
Hokkabaz (Illisionist - but in a deragotary way) I had high hopes for this one since it is written, co directed and acted by one genius man. Turkey's first stand up comic. He is also a great actor. But after watching the film (suprise!) I think that he shouldn't write, and most definitely he shouldn't direct. Two close friends, an illisionist and his male assistant, decide to go on an Anatolia tour to earn money for lasic operation (both have milk bottle glasses). They have to take Illisionist's father who is a few bricks short on the head- in a good way- and they meet a nice girl who needs a break from life. It was simply a mediocre, leaning towards bad film. 20 October*
Kader (Fate) Directed by Zeki Demirkubuz, this is the story three friends in a tangled web of love (or a Gordion's knot if you will as it's described in another site) This director is known for making intelligent, realist films and I actually wanted to see this one. 17 November.
Sınav (The Exam) This one is about 4 students trying to steal the questions for the University Exam. This is a torture for any high school student since if you can't pass it, you can wave your year good bye. You have to wait next year to enter the exam again. (Thank God that I passed this one both times I entered it). So Ömer Faruk Sorak, who is a director with considerable box office success by Turkish standarts films Yiğit Güralp's script and a hybrid of a film shows up on screen. This is a bit similar to Korean films with more than a few genres. It is funny at times and melodramatic, gives social messages and contains a few actions scenes. Also Jean Claude Van Damme has a small part in it (the JCVD visited Turkish Big Brother house was the day I lost all sympathy to that guy). Anyway this one is good - although the director visually overindulges a bit, it doesn't hurt the film overall. 20 October*
Takva (this is an arabic word meaning deep/total belief in God) It is one film I really want to watch since not only it has very good word of mouth but also the story is one I'm very interested in. One guy who is a true believer enters into an Islamic sect and this changes his whole life (I tried to avoid the spoilers but I think it is a negative change) Lead actor Erkan Can is the crown jewel on a solid cast and directed by Önder Çakar, this film got a minor award at Toronto Film Festival.
An anecdote from one member of the cast may shed a sliver of light on Turkey's current condition. While filming praying scenes in an apartment (the sect prayers done in addition to obligatory ones vary and this one was a bit noisy) the residents alerted the police that there is illegal religious activity, so the police came to the apartment and they were convinced that the people are actors shooting a film. One of them said after seeing a poster of Che in one of the rooms said "I have never been happier after seeing a Che poster". I will write more about this film after I watch is inşaallah. 1 December.
* These films are long gone from big city cinemas and only shown at the small cities.
The information came from a site I always use to check on which film is in which theatre etc. Unfortunately it is in Turkish but here it is anyway.
http://www.beyazperde.com/default.asp
Monday, December 11, 2006
Information about Turkish cinema
Now that I have decided on continuing with this blog for better or worse (hopefully for the better) I didn't know where to start to introduce readers on Turkish cinema.
The best way will be the beginning, no?
So the link at the end of this post will take to a very good site dedicated to Turkish cinema, sadly most of the contents are in Turkish but here is a page which will give you and idea about how it started
Scroll down just a little bit to read the English text
These nice people also allowed me to borrow anything I want from their site so I want to add a photograph of my favorite actor. Her name is Turkan Soray and she is crowned as the "Sultan of the Turkish Cinema" by us Turks.
http://www.turksinemasi.com/turk_sinema_tarihi/turk_sinema_tarihi.asp
The best way will be the beginning, no?
So the link at the end of this post will take to a very good site dedicated to Turkish cinema, sadly most of the contents are in Turkish but here is a page which will give you and idea about how it started
Scroll down just a little bit to read the English text
These nice people also allowed me to borrow anything I want from their site so I want to add a photograph of my favorite actor. Her name is Turkan Soray and she is crowned as the "Sultan of the Turkish Cinema" by us Turks.
http://www.turksinemasi.com/turk_sinema_tarihi/turk_sinema_tarihi.asp
Friday, December 8, 2006
Hello Readers,
The idea for this blog came from a friend. After thinking about it for a while, I asked to myself "Why not?" The strongest answer to this question is that I'm more of a consumer than a producer in life and even though I love to read, I have never managed to finish even half a diary ever since I became very fond of them (which is many years ago).
But Turkish cinema is going very strong nowadays and as far as I know there is not any other site which can provide information in English on this strange and wonderful cinema of many variations.
I would like to apologise in advance for my mistakes in English and for my inadequacy in expressing myself.
So here it is, my first attempt to actually start something with every intention of taking it as far as I can.
The idea for this blog came from a friend. After thinking about it for a while, I asked to myself "Why not?" The strongest answer to this question is that I'm more of a consumer than a producer in life and even though I love to read, I have never managed to finish even half a diary ever since I became very fond of them (which is many years ago).
But Turkish cinema is going very strong nowadays and as far as I know there is not any other site which can provide information in English on this strange and wonderful cinema of many variations.
I would like to apologise in advance for my mistakes in English and for my inadequacy in expressing myself.
So here it is, my first attempt to actually start something with every intention of taking it as far as I can.
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