Director’s Cut: Fatih Akin

A band on the banks of the Bosphurus. Image from Head On: sudeepshukla.wordpress.com

This is the second post in an ongoing series. I plan to blog once a month about a different director whose films are featured in our collection.

I didn’t become aware of the films of Fatih Akin until after spending a month in Berlin a few years back. While his films were readily available here in the United States, they just hadn’t quite landed on my radar. Akin, a German native born to Turkish immigrant parents, often builds his stories around characters of Turkish ancestry living in Germany (or vice-versa in some cases). Since the two countries are not exactly adjacent to each-other, I wasn’t aware how much influence Turkish culture had/has on modern German culture until visiting the country. Afterwards, I felt the need to seek out Akin’s films.

The happy newlyweds. Image from Head On: worldfilm.about.com

The first film of his I saw was Head On (2004), which also happens to be one of his most difficult films. Don’t get me wrong – I love this movie, and recommend it to anyone who I get the sense might enjoy it. It’s not a film I would recommend to everyone though, but if you’re looking for a love story with some rough edges this film is for you (think of it as a Turkish-German Sid & Nancy with a less tragic ending). The film begins with our protagonists, Sibel and Cahit, meeting in a hospital after both have attempted to hurt (possibly kill) themselves. We quickly learn that Sibel is in need of a Turkish husband to appease her strict family, and Cahit agrees to marry her because he is a drunken mess living in squalor and has nothing to lose. They each get something out of this bargain – Sibel finally gets her freedom, and Cahit gets a live-in roommate who will help with rent and keep his apartment clean(ish). Of course, we know that eventually these two crazy kids are probably going to fall in love, but in the end the story takes a turn into far more challenging territory.

For Akin’s next film, he headed into the documentary field with Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul (2005). In some ways it is almost a follow-up to Head On, a film

Image from Crossing the Bridge: http://tinyurl.com/me7owml

Image from Crossing the Bridge: http://tinyurl.com/me7owml

filled with a wide range of music, from angry punk to traditional Turkish wedding interludes. The director solicits his friend Alexander Hacke, the bassist from the industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten, to act as guide to the Turkish musical landscape as we check in with genres as diverse as the fast rap of Istanbul, to soulful Romany instrumentals, to haunting Kurdish dirges. This documentary is recommended for anyone with a passing interest in Eastern European music, or really, for music lovers in general.

 
His following film, Edge of Heaven (2007), is probably his most satisfying film to date. It’s a hard movie to describe, but I’ll do my best without giving too much away. The movie takes place in three separate segments that eventually come together. Half of the story takes place in Germany, half in Turkey, with almost all of the

Image from Edge of Heaven: nytimes.com

Image from Edge of Heaven: seismopolite.com

central six characters spending time in both countries while either searching for each other or trying to redeem themselves. Daughters search for their mothers (and vice versa) and one character’s actions will eventually bring everything more-or-less full circle. The film is as much about the characters though as it is about the cultural exchange happening between the two countries. If you have even a passing interest in films from this part of the world, I recommend giving this one a try.

Image from Soul Kitchen: canalplus.pl

Next up Akin went in a totally different direction with Soul Kitchen (2009) a delightfully screwy comedy about a guy and his struggling bar (of the title). The film is full of food, music, dancing, romance, and crazy coincidences. Our hero, Zinos, has just be abandoned by his girlfriend. On top of that his bar is struggling, he’s recently thrown his back out, he desperately needs to find a new chef, and his shady brother has just come to the Soul Kitchen looking for a job after being let out of

Image from Soul Kitchen: flicks.co.nz

jail on “partial parole.” Will it all work out in the end? Of course it will! This film is a lot lighter than Akin’s previous features, but maybe after all those challenging pictures he just felt the need to have a good time, which this film definitely delivers.

I have yet to check out one of the director’s first films In July, but look forward to it in the future, along with anything else he chooses to direct.

What about you, fellow movie watchers, what directors do you like? Do you have any favorite foreign films or directors?

Happy viewing,

Tara

 

 

 

Director’s Cut: Pedro Almodovar

Penelope Cruz stars in Broken Embraces. Image from: http://www.rogerebert.com

 

This is the first post in an ongoing series. I plan to blog once a month about a different director whose films are featured in our collection.

My first exposure to the Spanish director Pedro Almodovar happened when I was taking Spanish classes in high school. We were being forced to sit through another boring Spanish instructional video, when our kooky teacher confessed, “If you want to watch a good Spanish movie, check out a film called Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios. I can’t show it in class, because it’s kind of naughty, but you should rent it. Trust me. Just don’t tell your parents that I’m the one who told you to…”

Image from: theguardian.com

As luck would have it, we had a pretty great video store in my small hometown, and they had a copy of this film on VHS–the title in English translates to Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988). I’m not sure I totally understood the film at the time, but it definitely left an impression on me.

All About My Mother. Imaged from slantmagazine.com

Enough of an impression, that in the years that followed I’ve checked out almost all of Almodovar’s films, and he has become one of my favorite directors. Most of his films feature colorful sets, fantastic details, and larger-than-life characters—and his 1999 film All About My Mother does not disappoint on this front. The plot is pure melodrama so I won’t go into everything that happens, but in a nutshell: a grieving single mother, a pregnant HIV-positive nun, and a witty transgender prostitute form an unlikely family. There is also a fantastic monologue delivered late in the film about the literal cost (in dollars) of being an “authentic” woman.

Talk to Her. Image from: gmanreviews.com

And boy does Almodovar love women. Most of his films focus on the lives of funny, strong, put-upon women and their various friends, families, enemies and lovers. And even though Talk to Her (2002) tells the story of two women lying in comas at the hospital (both tended to by the men who love them) these female personalities dominate the movie in flashbacks. I will warn the viewer though, while a lot of this film is beautiful and whimsical, there are some difficult passages involving bull-fighting and an (implied) moral transgression that might be hard for some to watch. However, if you’re not one to shy away from challenging films then this one should spark debate.

Gael Garcia Bernal in Bad Education. Image from: nytimes.com

With his next film Bad Education (2004), Almodovar made the lives of men the central focus of his narrative, and cast a young Gael Garcia Bernal as his femme fatale. The set up is simple: two childhood friends are re-united, but one of them may not be who he says he is. From there things spiral out into a meta-fictional murder mystery, with a darker tone than in his three previous films.

Volver. Image from: rogerebert.com

Volver (2006) is probably my favorite of his films to date. While Almodovar’s films tend to swing wildly between comedy/farce and melodrama/tragedy, Volver somehow hits the sweet spot right in the middle of all four genres, with an added dose of magical realism. It’s a total joy to watch, which is really saying something since the story touches on murder, adultery, incest, malignant tumors, ghosts, and Penelope Cruz’s derriere. But maybe that’s the magic of Pedro Almodovar’s films? He’s able to take dark themes and surround them with bright colors, warm characters, and screwball humor—and really, is there anything better than that?

If you’re interested in giving this director a try, we have a dozen different films for you to choose from (Broken Embraces is another personal favorite) and we also have a documentary and books on his work.

So how about you, dear reader? Are you a fan of Pedro Almodovar, or do you have a director you’re particularly fond of?

Happy viewing,

Tara

PS – About a year ago I revisited Women on the Verge… with a friend who was in that same Spanish class, and it’s still a super fun movie. I can also see why it would not have been an appropriate film for us to watch in class.

The Extended, the Unrated, and the Re-cut

Nowadays, there are so many different editions of movies being released, or re-released, that it can be hard to know which one to pick. Unfortunately, not all editions are created the same. I’m a firm believer that editing can make or break a movie, and just as an author should not be allowed to edit their own book, sometimes a director also needs an outside pair of eyes to point out blind spots, excesses, or troubles with pacing.

Which is why I say, beware the extended, unrated, or re-cut DVD. In some cases the difference is relatively minor, but in others, a recut version completely destroys an entire movie.

Here are a couple DVDs I would recommend avoiding:

Apocalypse Now (Redux)

Now with nearly 45 extra minutes—as though the original did not have enough apocalypse.

Cinema Paradiso: The New Version

I have not actually experienced this 2002 re-issue of this Academy Award-winning 1988 film, largely due to the fact that numerous people have warned me that it ruins the magic of the original. It is also nearly an hour longer, clocking in at 170 minutes.

Knocked Up (Unrated and Extended)

I remember enjoying this movie when it came out in theaters—I was surprised by its mixture of sweetness and crude dude-humor. Later I accidentally took home the unrated and extended edition to watch on DVD, and it completely ruined the movie for me. Having extended scenes where many of the movie’s comedians improv off each other can be fun to watch in an outtakes reel, but completely ruins the pacing of the movie.

Bad Santa: Badder Santa

Similar to Knocked Up, some of the extended scenes really make the movie drag on and on.  And honestly, the original was rude and crude enough—it did not need to be made any “badder.”

Dawn of the Dead (Extended Director’s Cut)

Die-hard horror fans may not agree with me, but I still think the original U.S. theatrical release is the best version of this zombie classic (filmed at the Monroeville mall, just in case you didn’t know). If you check out the Ultimate Edition though, you will get both the 119-minute International edition and the 126-minute U.S. theatrical version—as well as the bloated 139-minute “extended” cut.

Star Wars trilogy (Special Edition)

Remember when George Lucas made a big to-do about the 1997 re-release of the Star Wars trilogy in a new “Special Edition?” George Lucas spent millions of dollars retouching  A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return Of the Jedi, adding completely unnecessary details. Personally I prefer to believe that both this “special edition” and the prequels never existed.

Of course, I also realize that sometimes movies can be improved by being re-cut, and I for one will probably never watch the Hobbit movies until they are edited down into one movie, preferably less than three hours long.

How about you? Do you have any favorite (or least favorite) versions of films?

-Tara