YAHŞİ BATI Review
[Our thanks to Serdar Kökçeoğlu for the following review.]
In the mid 90's, a young man publishing caricatures for humour magazines walked on stage, and against everybody's expectation, changed the face of Turkish comedy - His name was Cem Yılmaz. Also described as "not so handsome but highly sympathetic", he started performing his stand up comedy shows in Leman Cultural Center. His one man performances received high responses from the crowd, making him very popular; so popular in fact that the elite society started to invade the back streets of Beyoğlu, unknown area to them until then. His shows were filling thick and fast at the Leman Cultural Center. Using only a chair and his wit, he told us the life stories of different extraordinary fictional characters, and tackled with ease subjects otherwise thought to be slightly sensitive. He portrayed the Turkish identity from a unique parody angle in today's popular culture.
With such a successful stage debut, it naturally didn't take long for his first role offer to come; in 1998, when he co-starred in 'Everything's Gonna Be Great' and gave a performance as extraordinary as what was anticipated of him. From there, various roles followed, as in 'Vizontele', filmed in 2001, though a limited appearance was nonetheless unforgettable. It then became clear that his career on the big screen was on the verge to greater things.
In 2004, he launched the Turks to space in 'G.O.R.A', big budget science fiction comedy which he wrote. The film was about a used carpet salesman Arif (played by Cem Yılmaz) who was mistakenly kidnapped by aliens from the planet G.O.R.A. and was also responsible for an alien woman's love. Cem Yılmaz was after the original theme in traditional Turkish comedies, making his character creating chaos everywhere he set foot in, only to make things right at the end. Whilst Turks are often seen as being strange, sometimes close to piffling, they can also be known for their practical intelligence, as shown in this film.
'GORA' was a good comedy and a successful tribute to some of the cult Turkish films of the genre. However scenario editing was lacking in efficiency, which made the film way too long for its storyline. This showed a certain inability from the director Ömer Faruk Sorak to condense Cem's lines, and still keeping the substance of the film.
Following this, 'Magician' came out in 2006. Directed by Cem Yılmaz and Ali Taner Baltacı, this little film tells different stories and shows a more serious side of Yılmaz. And although half of the film critics highly welcomed the film, the other half found its dowdiness moderately entertaining.
Then came the widely awaited 'AROG'; hitting the big screens in 2008. This film was the sequel of 'GORA', based on Arif's past adventures. This time, Yılmaz injected a dose of fine sarcasm into this film, pleasantly noticed and appreciated by the most refined audience. Having said that, the scenario still contained some shortcomings, referring for example to its part about football and still unable to score the much awaited goal. Without a doubt, 'AROG' was a fine example of a popular cinema, with a great sense of humour. However, and as it is often the case with Cem Yılmaz, we can't help but feeling nostalgic about his witty touch which made him so popular, which unfortunately seems to lack in his movies.
More recently, his latest comedy 'Yahşi Batı' just hit the big screens; this time with Ömer Faruk Sorak sitting in the director's chair. And whilst Cem Yılmaz takes the leading role as well as the scenarist, He maturely left the director's role to the expert, who in return accepted to be in Yılmaz's shadow.
In this film, Yılmaz uses the Turk formula one more time; his character creates chaos wherever he goes, makes enemies, finds a lover and makes things right at the end. Set in 1880, he plays the role of one of the two Ottoman officers whose duty to carry this special gift to the American president Garfield. However, when this special gift suddenly gets stolen from them, they find themselves stuck in cowboys' country. Yılmaz this time shows us a good balanced dose of humour and well thought script, restoring that equilibrium that was so often missing in the past. And not only the comedy does not overshadow the dramatic side of the film, but it is evident that Ömer Faruk Sorak studied at lengths all the stereotypes and the rules of western cinema and applied them correctly.
This is where unfortunately the positive sides of this film stop...
The witty lines and humour we got used to from Cem Yılmaz's shows are lamely replaced by this under-the-belt, abrupt tirade of heavy swearing. And no contempt of this, the reference to the gay cowboy from 'Brokeback Mountain" comes nothing short of an obnoxious line. And yes we have been used to references from Cem Yılmaz's movies sponsors and advertisers; it seems this time the local beverage company's advert nearly took over the all scenario. All in all, whilst the movie has been well directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak, demonstrating that he can shoot a proper western movie, this comedy leaves us with a taste our sour grapes. Judged as a step backward for the witty comedian Cem Yılmaz, we would advise him to really reconsider making a sequel of this as widely reported, and start from scratch to come up with better quality comedy films.
Review by Serdar Kökçeoğlu
In the mid 90's, a young man publishing caricatures for humour magazines walked on stage, and against everybody's expectation, changed the face of Turkish comedy - His name was Cem Yılmaz. Also described as "not so handsome but highly sympathetic", he started performing his stand up comedy shows in Leman Cultural Center. His one man performances received high responses from the crowd, making him very popular; so popular in fact that the elite society started to invade the back streets of Beyoğlu, unknown area to them until then. His shows were filling thick and fast at the Leman Cultural Center. Using only a chair and his wit, he told us the life stories of different extraordinary fictional characters, and tackled with ease subjects otherwise thought to be slightly sensitive. He portrayed the Turkish identity from a unique parody angle in today's popular culture.
With such a successful stage debut, it naturally didn't take long for his first role offer to come; in 1998, when he co-starred in 'Everything's Gonna Be Great' and gave a performance as extraordinary as what was anticipated of him. From there, various roles followed, as in 'Vizontele', filmed in 2001, though a limited appearance was nonetheless unforgettable. It then became clear that his career on the big screen was on the verge to greater things.
In 2004, he launched the Turks to space in 'G.O.R.A', big budget science fiction comedy which he wrote. The film was about a used carpet salesman Arif (played by Cem Yılmaz) who was mistakenly kidnapped by aliens from the planet G.O.R.A. and was also responsible for an alien woman's love. Cem Yılmaz was after the original theme in traditional Turkish comedies, making his character creating chaos everywhere he set foot in, only to make things right at the end. Whilst Turks are often seen as being strange, sometimes close to piffling, they can also be known for their practical intelligence, as shown in this film.
'GORA' was a good comedy and a successful tribute to some of the cult Turkish films of the genre. However scenario editing was lacking in efficiency, which made the film way too long for its storyline. This showed a certain inability from the director Ömer Faruk Sorak to condense Cem's lines, and still keeping the substance of the film.
Following this, 'Magician' came out in 2006. Directed by Cem Yılmaz and Ali Taner Baltacı, this little film tells different stories and shows a more serious side of Yılmaz. And although half of the film critics highly welcomed the film, the other half found its dowdiness moderately entertaining.
Then came the widely awaited 'AROG'; hitting the big screens in 2008. This film was the sequel of 'GORA', based on Arif's past adventures. This time, Yılmaz injected a dose of fine sarcasm into this film, pleasantly noticed and appreciated by the most refined audience. Having said that, the scenario still contained some shortcomings, referring for example to its part about football and still unable to score the much awaited goal. Without a doubt, 'AROG' was a fine example of a popular cinema, with a great sense of humour. However, and as it is often the case with Cem Yılmaz, we can't help but feeling nostalgic about his witty touch which made him so popular, which unfortunately seems to lack in his movies.
More recently, his latest comedy 'Yahşi Batı' just hit the big screens; this time with Ömer Faruk Sorak sitting in the director's chair. And whilst Cem Yılmaz takes the leading role as well as the scenarist, He maturely left the director's role to the expert, who in return accepted to be in Yılmaz's shadow.
In this film, Yılmaz uses the Turk formula one more time; his character creates chaos wherever he goes, makes enemies, finds a lover and makes things right at the end. Set in 1880, he plays the role of one of the two Ottoman officers whose duty to carry this special gift to the American president Garfield. However, when this special gift suddenly gets stolen from them, they find themselves stuck in cowboys' country. Yılmaz this time shows us a good balanced dose of humour and well thought script, restoring that equilibrium that was so often missing in the past. And not only the comedy does not overshadow the dramatic side of the film, but it is evident that Ömer Faruk Sorak studied at lengths all the stereotypes and the rules of western cinema and applied them correctly.
This is where unfortunately the positive sides of this film stop...
The witty lines and humour we got used to from Cem Yılmaz's shows are lamely replaced by this under-the-belt, abrupt tirade of heavy swearing. And no contempt of this, the reference to the gay cowboy from 'Brokeback Mountain" comes nothing short of an obnoxious line. And yes we have been used to references from Cem Yılmaz's movies sponsors and advertisers; it seems this time the local beverage company's advert nearly took over the all scenario. All in all, whilst the movie has been well directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak, demonstrating that he can shoot a proper western movie, this comedy leaves us with a taste our sour grapes. Judged as a step backward for the witty comedian Cem Yılmaz, we would advise him to really reconsider making a sequel of this as widely reported, and start from scratch to come up with better quality comedy films.
Review by Serdar Kökçeoğlu
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