23/05/2007

Success opens doors but creates pressure. Four years after Head-On [+see also:
trailer
film profile], winner of the Golden Bear in Berlin and acclaimed in numerous countries, Fatih Akin (born 1973 in Hamburg to Turkish parents) brings to competition at the Cannes Film Festival his fifth feature film, after having presented his documentary Crossing the Bridge - The Sound of Istanbul [+see also:
trailer
film profile] here in 2005.

Akin speaks of The Edge of Heaven (Auf Der Anederen Seite) [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fatih Akin
interview: Klaus Maeck
film profile] as the second instalment of a hypothetical trilogy entitled "Love – Death – Evil" that began with Head On. Actually, the theme of death, or the Western taboo of death, is only of the film’s strong elements. It is interwoven with political passion, ideology and militancy, borders, globalization, and the languages and cultures that divide populations and individuals.

While his previous hit feature was a dramatic love story in which the two main characters lose and find each other again here Akin focuses on more characters, creating a hefty role for the superb Hanna Schygulla (an actress who has worked with Fassbinder, Wajda, Wenders, von Trotta, Godard, Scola and Ferreri), who plays the mother of a university student (Patrycia Ziolkowska) who meets a young Turk who has fled his country as a result of his political activities.

Yet the perfect and enthralling structure of Head On is here transformed into a screenplay and directing style that are level and without any particular sparks, in a story that unfolds between Germany and Turkey not, however, lacking in intensity and strong emotions, supported by magnificent supporting cast (Baki Davrak, Nursel Kose, Tuncel Kurtiz and Nurgul Yesilcay).

It will be interesting to see how the film, acted in German, English and Turkish, will be received in Turkey. The Edge of Heaven was produced by Corazon International in co-production with Anka Film and in association with NDR and Dorje Film. It is being sold by The Match Factory.

(Translated from Italian)