New Turkish Cinema: ADA and EJDER KAPANI Reviews
[Our thanks to Serdar Kökçeoğlu for the following.]
Modern Turkish cinema continues to present new genres of movies, in contrast with the more traditional facade it had in the past. And carrying on with that trend, two new movies have just hit the big screen, claiming to be the first in their genres to be released; Ejder Kapanı (Dragon Trap), a serial killer story, and Ada: Zombilerin Düğünü (Island: The Wedding of Zombies), as its title suggests, is about zombies. Whilst qualifying these movies as "first in their genre" could be seen as a marketing tactic, they may not be wrong after all.
We have indeed seen in the past movies adopting "a serial killer" theme before, or witnessed actors walking like zombies; however such attempts were never really taken seriously, nor were they intended to be. And in that sense, 'Dragon Trap' differs from that and could be rightly called not only the first serial killer movie, but could also be described as a proper thriller movie. Turkish cinema icon Uğur Yücel was given the task of directing this movie, just after finishing filming an independent art movie and a drama. At first, expectations were that he was embarking on another small budget film, probably targeting the smaller festival audiences; however what he presented in the form of 'Dragon Trap' showed a much bigger ambition to target the big screens of cinema, something the budget required to make it can confirm. And in all honesty, this move did not come too much as a surprise judging by his noticeable interest in thrillers, particularly throughout his television career.
The Dragon Trap tells the story of two detectives, one old and experienced, and the other young and restless, both chasing this serial killer paedophile. And as one would expect, the usual thriller plot of the hunter and the hunted is very much the base of the script; however, director Yücel succeeded in developing that with authentic little additions to the main storyline. As an example, the private life of the old detective (played by Uğur Yücel) and his unique relationship with this call girl was nicely presented on screen. And whilst the dark and shady atmosphere of the movie may be reminiscent to some critics of the film setting of 'Seven', most will undoubtedly notice more the uncanny atmosphere of the dark alleys of Beyoğlu. Unfortunately, one major criticism about this movie is that it fails in keeping the audience guessing and thus captivated; the identity of the killer does not really come much of a surprise. And with a constant high tempo, which may actually feel over-used at times, as if this would be the key to keep people's focus, this film could come to the viewer as a bit long to watch.
Written by a young screenwriter, who has sweated a great deal to be noticed by Uğur Yücel, 'Dragon Trap' was far from perfection in the genre. Having said that, good acting and a well painted atmosphere will be appreciated by the viewers of the big screen. And whilst Uğur Yücel should carry on working on small-budget films, we are hoping to see more attempts from him to bring more movies of the genre to the wider cinema audience. And as a strong suggestion, he may want to consider the Turkish thriller literature as a model if he really wants to make a proper attempt in making the perfect thriller movie.
'Island: The Wedding of the Zombies' was written by two young critics and the film gained many fans in the whole development process. The directors joined forces, using their own funds to put together their first movie, which was rightly filmed on the largest of the Princess Islands, called Büyükada, as it had just the right setting for that movie. Shot using the POV technique (point of view), this movie tells the story of a group of friends who gathered on the island to attend a wedding ceremony. And the audience is watching all of this through the eyes of a young member of the group, who in turn is filming the wedding ceremony as his own souvenir. By setting up a page on Facebook dedicated to the hunt of zombies, they have instantly captured the attention of horror movies fans, very quickly and in a vast number. Unfortunately POV technique can be a double edge sword... If not done properly, and in such quest for realism captured on a portable camera, such movie can end up feeling too amateurish with serious technical faults; and this one unfortunately does... some dialogs are barely comprehensible and the lighting is so bad, zombie-ish make up appearances of the zombies are barely noticeable. That aside, the storyline has enough depth to keep the audience captivated. And with good acting performances, realistic dialogs and overall good humour, it is a great pleasure to watch. The directors Murat Emir Eren and Talip Ertürk have well perceived what the younger generation need and want to watch, and as such, have delivered on comedy side. However, for a horror-comedy movie, it is seriously lacking the horror side of it.
Two friends who have no experience whatsoever in making films, have set out to direct and shoot a film using nothing else but their own means. And whilst this could be seen as a great first attempt, the myriad of technical shortcomings have unfortunately not done any justice to this movie. Sound and screenplay are the biggest problems of Turkish cinema. And maybe choosing the horror-comedy genre may have been some kind of a strategically chosen approach for their first movie attempt. We, however, do hope they observe the works of Wes Anderson, rather than George Romero as their inspiring director. The type of humour Murat Emir Eren and Talip Ertürk have produced could set new boundaries in the comedy genre never seen in Turkish cinema before, which comes with a hint of realism. And should they decide to make any impression in any genre, this is definitely the one they should aim for.
Reviews by Serdar Kökçeoğlu
Modern Turkish cinema continues to present new genres of movies, in contrast with the more traditional facade it had in the past. And carrying on with that trend, two new movies have just hit the big screen, claiming to be the first in their genres to be released; Ejder Kapanı (Dragon Trap), a serial killer story, and Ada: Zombilerin Düğünü (Island: The Wedding of Zombies), as its title suggests, is about zombies. Whilst qualifying these movies as "first in their genre" could be seen as a marketing tactic, they may not be wrong after all.
We have indeed seen in the past movies adopting "a serial killer" theme before, or witnessed actors walking like zombies; however such attempts were never really taken seriously, nor were they intended to be. And in that sense, 'Dragon Trap' differs from that and could be rightly called not only the first serial killer movie, but could also be described as a proper thriller movie. Turkish cinema icon Uğur Yücel was given the task of directing this movie, just after finishing filming an independent art movie and a drama. At first, expectations were that he was embarking on another small budget film, probably targeting the smaller festival audiences; however what he presented in the form of 'Dragon Trap' showed a much bigger ambition to target the big screens of cinema, something the budget required to make it can confirm. And in all honesty, this move did not come too much as a surprise judging by his noticeable interest in thrillers, particularly throughout his television career.
The Dragon Trap tells the story of two detectives, one old and experienced, and the other young and restless, both chasing this serial killer paedophile. And as one would expect, the usual thriller plot of the hunter and the hunted is very much the base of the script; however, director Yücel succeeded in developing that with authentic little additions to the main storyline. As an example, the private life of the old detective (played by Uğur Yücel) and his unique relationship with this call girl was nicely presented on screen. And whilst the dark and shady atmosphere of the movie may be reminiscent to some critics of the film setting of 'Seven', most will undoubtedly notice more the uncanny atmosphere of the dark alleys of Beyoğlu. Unfortunately, one major criticism about this movie is that it fails in keeping the audience guessing and thus captivated; the identity of the killer does not really come much of a surprise. And with a constant high tempo, which may actually feel over-used at times, as if this would be the key to keep people's focus, this film could come to the viewer as a bit long to watch.
Written by a young screenwriter, who has sweated a great deal to be noticed by Uğur Yücel, 'Dragon Trap' was far from perfection in the genre. Having said that, good acting and a well painted atmosphere will be appreciated by the viewers of the big screen. And whilst Uğur Yücel should carry on working on small-budget films, we are hoping to see more attempts from him to bring more movies of the genre to the wider cinema audience. And as a strong suggestion, he may want to consider the Turkish thriller literature as a model if he really wants to make a proper attempt in making the perfect thriller movie.
'Island: The Wedding of the Zombies' was written by two young critics and the film gained many fans in the whole development process. The directors joined forces, using their own funds to put together their first movie, which was rightly filmed on the largest of the Princess Islands, called Büyükada, as it had just the right setting for that movie. Shot using the POV technique (point of view), this movie tells the story of a group of friends who gathered on the island to attend a wedding ceremony. And the audience is watching all of this through the eyes of a young member of the group, who in turn is filming the wedding ceremony as his own souvenir. By setting up a page on Facebook dedicated to the hunt of zombies, they have instantly captured the attention of horror movies fans, very quickly and in a vast number. Unfortunately POV technique can be a double edge sword... If not done properly, and in such quest for realism captured on a portable camera, such movie can end up feeling too amateurish with serious technical faults; and this one unfortunately does... some dialogs are barely comprehensible and the lighting is so bad, zombie-ish make up appearances of the zombies are barely noticeable. That aside, the storyline has enough depth to keep the audience captivated. And with good acting performances, realistic dialogs and overall good humour, it is a great pleasure to watch. The directors Murat Emir Eren and Talip Ertürk have well perceived what the younger generation need and want to watch, and as such, have delivered on comedy side. However, for a horror-comedy movie, it is seriously lacking the horror side of it.
Two friends who have no experience whatsoever in making films, have set out to direct and shoot a film using nothing else but their own means. And whilst this could be seen as a great first attempt, the myriad of technical shortcomings have unfortunately not done any justice to this movie. Sound and screenplay are the biggest problems of Turkish cinema. And maybe choosing the horror-comedy genre may have been some kind of a strategically chosen approach for their first movie attempt. We, however, do hope they observe the works of Wes Anderson, rather than George Romero as their inspiring director. The type of humour Murat Emir Eren and Talip Ertürk have produced could set new boundaries in the comedy genre never seen in Turkish cinema before, which comes with a hint of realism. And should they decide to make any impression in any genre, this is definitely the one they should aim for.
Reviews by Serdar Kökçeoğlu
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