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