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Daily Sabah, Turkey
Sept 5 2014
WITH 'THE CUT,' FATIH AKIN INTRODUCES A STRONG POLITICAL TONE TO HIS FILM CAREER
Kaya Genç
I never expected Fatih Akın to make a big budget film about a taboo
political subject. A German film director of Turkish descent, Akın's
20-year-long film career provided examples of his Terry Gilliam-like
imagination, as well as his acute interest in love affairs between
passionate individuals. When I read Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw's
review of his new film "The Cut" ("a heartfelt, if soapy Zhivago-ish
quest epic") I remembered those first impressions. To me, love and
passion are Akın's areas of expertise. His film scripts,
cinematography and even the performances he manages to extract from
his actors, all take their power from Akın's continuous focus on
passionate feelings and on love.
Despite its strong engagement with a big political subject, "The Cut"
is also a typical Akın film, perhaps a composite of his previous work.
It tells the story of Nazaret Manugyan, a blacksmith from Mardin, who
is forced to leave his hometown in 1915 when members of the Committee
of Union and Progress executed a plan to deport all Ottoman Armenians
from the empire. Manugyan, played by Tahar Rahim of "A Prophet" fame,
travels to Aleppo, Beirut, Cuba, Florida and Minnesota; in the second
half of the film he struggles to find his daughters.
Some critics took issue with the soapy tone of "The Cut," as well as
its linguistic choices (Armenian characters speak English in the film;
the rest of the cast speak in their own tongues). Nevertheless, the
film, which competes for the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival, is a
testament to the scope and ambition of Akın's film career.
Born in 1973 to Turkish parents, Akın entered Hamburg's prestigious
Hochschule für bildende Künste at the age of 21 and studied in the
visual communication department.While at school, he started working
for the Hamburg- based film company, Wüste. Famous for its German-
Turkish films, including Buket Alakus's "Anam" and Anno Saul's Kebab
Connection," the company served as an artistic home to up and coming
filmmakers on the lookout for work experience.
Hochschule für bildende Künste's faculty included the eminent film
director Wim Wenders. In 2005, only five years after Akın's
graduation, the German magazine Der Spiegel described how "the German
film industry has been collectively holding its breath to see if Fatih
Akın would turn out to be the next Wim Wenders." Deutsche Welle was
equally excited about the rise of this new filmmaker: "After Wim
Wenders and Tom Tykwer, Fatih Akin ranks as the third most well-known
film director in Germany," it announced.
Although he owed this fame to "Head On" (2004), which won him the
Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, Akın had already made a name
for himself with "In July" (2000), a road movie that perfectly
exemplifies the earlier Akın. He cast Moritz Bleibtreu as Daniel, a
young teacher who buys a Mayan ring from a girl at the flea market
before finding himself on the road the following day, struggling to
find "a girl with a sun."
Bleibtreu also acted in Akın's 2002 film "Solino," about an Italian
family who opened the first pizza restaurant in the northwestern
German city Duisburg. The peace of their family life is unsettled when
two brothers fall in love with the same girl. This "family epic" was
released at a time when other Turkish directors, like Ferzan Ã-zpetek,
were producing enjoyable art-house hits, much to the delight of
European audiences.
For his next projects Akın chose to deal with more difficult and
politically loaded subjects, including immigration, cultural
alienation and the oppressive role of the family. Cahit, the
40-something protagonist of "Head On" deals with his German existence
and Turkish past in a violent and yet inspiring manner. Born in
Mersin, he leads a destructive life in Hamburg where he meets and
falls in love with Sibel who experiences immense pressure from her
Turkish family.
At the opening of the film, Cahit and Sibel have both attempted
suicide. Later they travel to Istanbul, stay at the Grand Hotel de
Londres in Beyoglu and begin new lives.The realism of "Head On"
continued with Akın's similarly acclaimed film, "Crossing the Bridge:
The Sound of Istanbul," which showed his gifts as a documentary
filmmaker.
The film unsettled many of the European (and more particularly,
German) assumptions about Turkey's "inherent backwardness" as a
predominantly Muslim country. Akın showed how different cultures
coexisted in the country, where artists shared a sense of alienation
from the centurylong policies of state-imposed uniformity. Istanbul
was as exciting as Berlin, even if German conservatives chose to
believe otherwise. I still remember the Istanbul premiere of Akın's
2009 film, "Soul Kitchen," a comedy about a shabby Greek restaurant
frequented by some of the city's most interesting characters. I was
surprised to see him employ a much lighter tone. But Akın had also
started to be more outspoken about politics. He boycotted the Swiss
premiere of "Soul Kitchen" to protest the country's referendum vote to
ban the construction of minarets. When asked to explain the reason
behind his protest, Akın said the ban contradicted his belief in the
"harmonious co-existence of peoples." It will be interesting to see
Akın's cinematic search for harmony in a career that increasingly
focuses on the more political and tragic aspects of our existence.
http://www.dailysabah.com/cinema/2014/09/06/with-the-cut-fatih-akin-introduces-a-strong-political-tone-to-his-film-career
Sept 5 2014
WITH 'THE CUT,' FATIH AKIN INTRODUCES A STRONG POLITICAL TONE TO HIS FILM CAREER
Kaya Genç
I never expected Fatih Akın to make a big budget film about a taboo
political subject. A German film director of Turkish descent, Akın's
20-year-long film career provided examples of his Terry Gilliam-like
imagination, as well as his acute interest in love affairs between
passionate individuals. When I read Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw's
review of his new film "The Cut" ("a heartfelt, if soapy Zhivago-ish
quest epic") I remembered those first impressions. To me, love and
passion are Akın's areas of expertise. His film scripts,
cinematography and even the performances he manages to extract from
his actors, all take their power from Akın's continuous focus on
passionate feelings and on love.
Despite its strong engagement with a big political subject, "The Cut"
is also a typical Akın film, perhaps a composite of his previous work.
It tells the story of Nazaret Manugyan, a blacksmith from Mardin, who
is forced to leave his hometown in 1915 when members of the Committee
of Union and Progress executed a plan to deport all Ottoman Armenians
from the empire. Manugyan, played by Tahar Rahim of "A Prophet" fame,
travels to Aleppo, Beirut, Cuba, Florida and Minnesota; in the second
half of the film he struggles to find his daughters.
Some critics took issue with the soapy tone of "The Cut," as well as
its linguistic choices (Armenian characters speak English in the film;
the rest of the cast speak in their own tongues). Nevertheless, the
film, which competes for the Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival, is a
testament to the scope and ambition of Akın's film career.
Born in 1973 to Turkish parents, Akın entered Hamburg's prestigious
Hochschule für bildende Künste at the age of 21 and studied in the
visual communication department.While at school, he started working
for the Hamburg- based film company, Wüste. Famous for its German-
Turkish films, including Buket Alakus's "Anam" and Anno Saul's Kebab
Connection," the company served as an artistic home to up and coming
filmmakers on the lookout for work experience.
Hochschule für bildende Künste's faculty included the eminent film
director Wim Wenders. In 2005, only five years after Akın's
graduation, the German magazine Der Spiegel described how "the German
film industry has been collectively holding its breath to see if Fatih
Akın would turn out to be the next Wim Wenders." Deutsche Welle was
equally excited about the rise of this new filmmaker: "After Wim
Wenders and Tom Tykwer, Fatih Akin ranks as the third most well-known
film director in Germany," it announced.
Although he owed this fame to "Head On" (2004), which won him the
Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, Akın had already made a name
for himself with "In July" (2000), a road movie that perfectly
exemplifies the earlier Akın. He cast Moritz Bleibtreu as Daniel, a
young teacher who buys a Mayan ring from a girl at the flea market
before finding himself on the road the following day, struggling to
find "a girl with a sun."
Bleibtreu also acted in Akın's 2002 film "Solino," about an Italian
family who opened the first pizza restaurant in the northwestern
German city Duisburg. The peace of their family life is unsettled when
two brothers fall in love with the same girl. This "family epic" was
released at a time when other Turkish directors, like Ferzan Ã-zpetek,
were producing enjoyable art-house hits, much to the delight of
European audiences.
For his next projects Akın chose to deal with more difficult and
politically loaded subjects, including immigration, cultural
alienation and the oppressive role of the family. Cahit, the
40-something protagonist of "Head On" deals with his German existence
and Turkish past in a violent and yet inspiring manner. Born in
Mersin, he leads a destructive life in Hamburg where he meets and
falls in love with Sibel who experiences immense pressure from her
Turkish family.
At the opening of the film, Cahit and Sibel have both attempted
suicide. Later they travel to Istanbul, stay at the Grand Hotel de
Londres in Beyoglu and begin new lives.The realism of "Head On"
continued with Akın's similarly acclaimed film, "Crossing the Bridge:
The Sound of Istanbul," which showed his gifts as a documentary
filmmaker.
The film unsettled many of the European (and more particularly,
German) assumptions about Turkey's "inherent backwardness" as a
predominantly Muslim country. Akın showed how different cultures
coexisted in the country, where artists shared a sense of alienation
from the centurylong policies of state-imposed uniformity. Istanbul
was as exciting as Berlin, even if German conservatives chose to
believe otherwise. I still remember the Istanbul premiere of Akın's
2009 film, "Soul Kitchen," a comedy about a shabby Greek restaurant
frequented by some of the city's most interesting characters. I was
surprised to see him employ a much lighter tone. But Akın had also
started to be more outspoken about politics. He boycotted the Swiss
premiere of "Soul Kitchen" to protest the country's referendum vote to
ban the construction of minarets. When asked to explain the reason
behind his protest, Akın said the ban contradicted his belief in the
"harmonious co-existence of peoples." It will be interesting to see
Akın's cinematic search for harmony in a career that increasingly
focuses on the more political and tragic aspects of our existence.
http://www.dailysabah.com/cinema/2014/09/06/with-the-cut-fatih-akin-introduces-a-strong-political-tone-to-his-film-career