♥♥♥♥♥
+ Best Drama of the Year
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| A man dramatically throws his arms in the air before a woman's enlarged face on this highly uninformative poster for Fatih Akin's Head-On |
A German woman with Turkish roots marries another German-Turkish man to get her conservative Turkish family off her tail. But their agreement upon a strictly proforma marriage doesn't work the way she had imagined...
Head-On is written and directed by great German filmmaker Fatih Akin (Short Sharp Shock/Kurz und Schmerzlos (1998)). The original title translates to, 'up against the wall'.
Akin has made a brave and wonderful film here, which lays bare the patriarchal hypocrisy of the Turks as well as their destructive social control. His honest reveal here makes it tragic that the film didn't inspire consequences for German immigration policies. Head-On shows us the destitution and despair which exiled Turks and especially their children and grandchildren can wind up with, when they remove themselves from their parentage. Finally it is a major win for the film that it manages to show this dramatic course interlaced with subtle, infectious humor and warmth.
The musical pieces, - beautiful traditional Turkish songs seemingly recorded by the Bosporus Strait in Istanbul, - are strange and fascinating breaks in the story, which keeps one's focus aligned on the foreign reality, which the German Turks operate in.
Both lead roles are acted with undaunted and deep connection by Birol Ünel (King of Thieves/König der Diebe (2003)) and Sibel Kekilli (What a Man (2011)), and especially the latter is fantastic as Sibel; beautiful, charming, heart-breaking, funny and reckless. Head-On is one of the year's finest cinematic experiences.
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2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: 11 mil. $
= Uncertain
[Head-On premiered 12 February (Berlin International Film Festival) and runs 121 minutes. Shooting took place in Germany and Istanbul, Turkey. The film opened #58 to a 5k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #51 and in 9 theaters, grossing 435k $ (4 % of the total gross). The film's 3 biggest markets were Germany with 5.3 mil. $ (48.2 %), Italy with 1.3 mil. $ (11.8 %) and Turkey with 1.1 mil. $ (10 %). The film won the Golden Bear prize in Berlin, was nominated for a David di Donatello award, won 2/7 European Film award nominations, was nominated for an Independent Spirit award, won 5 German Film awards and a Goya award, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Akin returned with a segment in Visions of Europe (2004), Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (2005, documentary) and theatrically with The Edge of Heaven/Auf der Anderen Seite (2007). Ünel returned in Kalbin zamani (2004); Kekilli in Kebab Connection (2004). Head-On is certified fresh at 91 % with a 7.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you thin of Head-On?
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