29 May, 2007

the power of trilogies



a few years back, fatih akin, in his early thirties made the rather wonderful Head-On, which tapped into his own conflicted background for inspiration. this is what sight and sound had to say about it, back in 2005.

Head-On also shuttles between cultural codes. Having grown up in Germany with Turkish parents, the protagonists seem to feel equally (not) at home in either culture, quoting freely from both their Turkish and German cultural heritages. Yet the film presents this not as a problem of non-belonging but rather as an opportunity to construct multiple belongings. Instead of portraying the experience of exile in terms of homelessness and loss, Head-On emphasises its enabling side, what Edward Said called the "plurality of vision" it offers.

Fatih Akin has said that his film has no ambition to "represent" the Turkish minority in Germany. Instead, his protagonists are outsiders, "on a quest to find themselves." They seek to invent a new life, a new morality, and they pay a price for trying to do so. The film ends with the suggestion that for both of them the quest and the passion are ongoing. In the words of one Turkish pop song: "What would remain from the story, if there were not passion?"


At Cannes this year, his The Edge of Heaven made its debut. the second of what i am suppposing is a trilogy (``I conceived of the whole thing as a trilogy -- the Love, Death and the Devil trilogy.'') I for one, cannot wait. it won for best screenplay. and charlotte rampling handed over the prize. an added perk.




"Akin's work is so serene, contemplative and yet so complex that it bypasses any simple comparisons to recent convoluted choral works such as Crash and Babel and offers pleasing touches of Kieslowskian non-coincidences, though Akin is certainly not on the same level as the legendary Polish director of the Ten Commandments and the Three Colours Trilogy - at least, not yet," writes Boyd van Hoeij at european-films.net. "As an acting showcase, Auf der andere Seite is outstanding. Hanna Schygulla gives one of her most riveting performances in years, while the Turkish ensemble is excellent all-round."

it's good to see the AMAZING schygulla garner attention again. she herself compared the young german-turk to a young fassbinder.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, now, this I haven't seen. It looks intriguing...

At first glance I thought you were writing about 1998's Head On by Greek director Ana Kokkinos (erm... notwithstanding her surname I seem to remember she's a lesbian, but I may be making that up), an apparently similar tale of cultural mislocation/multiplication set among Greek expatriats in Australia. Our hero is a multiple outsider, what with being gay and all. But he's played by handsome Alex Dimitriades who lets us watch him having a wank, so that's alright then.

Actually, I remember another Turkish cultural identity movie from the same period, but set in Germany among the 2nd or 3rd generation. Another one of those brutal "multiple outsider 'cos he's gay" things. Can't remember the title at the moment.

And now I need to go do some e-commerce to get ahold of your Head-On.

FKJ said...

i AM rather fond of alex D from heartbreak high days and he had started branching out in interesting directions (camping it up in ``but i'm a cheerleader'' and of course his creative turn in ``head on'')but seems to have rather fallen off the face of the earth. ho hum

yes. am currently QUITE bored and researching films with opium as a background motif. there are a quite a few i like and i'm just watching now, with odd nervous glances behind me to see if my bureau chief is taking notice.

MicNic said...

On behalf of Australia, I would  like to apologise for the horrid, Ana Kokinos version of Head on.  Not even the wank scene can save it.
OK, I'm being harsh, let me re-watch the wank scene again and see if I can re-evaluate.

Anonymous said...

You're right, it's a mistake to rely too much on memory. I'd better have another look at the wank scene, too.

FKJ said...

ok what started as a very respectable blog entry inexplicably degenerated into smutty wank repartee

i give up. Gratuitous willy shots anyone?

MicNic said...

Mr Leduc, can I have your email address? I need to send you something