An ensemble film that tells the story of several people from Germany and Turkey who do not know each other but whose paths cross fatefully. One of them is Susanne Staub, whose daughter Charlotte has fallen in love with the young Turkish activitst Ayten Öztürk. When the young activist is deported back to Turkey from Germany, Charlotte follows her, but is killed. Susanne also decides to go to Istanbul, where she finds support from Nejat Aksu, a German language and literature professor of Turkish descent. For his part, Nejat is hoping to find the missing Ayten – but he has no idea of the relationship between any of the stakeholders. –Berlinale
Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg of Turkish parentage. He began studying Visual Communications at Hamburg’s College of Fine Arts in 1994. His collaboration with Wüste Film also dates from this time. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, Sensin – You’re The One! (Sensin – Du Bist Es!), which received the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival. His second short film, Weed (Getuerkt, 1996), received several national and international festival prizes. His first full length feature film, Short Sharp Shock (Kurz Und Schmerzlos, 1998) won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno and the Bavarian Film Award (Best Young Director) in 1998. His other films include: In July (Im Juli, 2000), Wir Haben Vergessen Zurueckzukehren (2001), Solino (2002), the Berlinale Golden Bear-winner and winner of the German and European Film Awards Head-On (Gegen Die Wand, 2003), and Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul (2005). —World Cinema Foundation read more
Simultaneously an exercise in rigorous formalism and an affecting examination of individual lives lived across the tension lines extending between Germany and Turkey, The Edge of Heaven somewhat undermines its depiction of the messiness of the latter through an over-meticulous commitment to the former. Still, a clever and moving piece of filmmaking, with a quietly bravura finale.
Not a bad movie. A little prone to disjunctive tangents, but it seems like that's what the director was comfortable with. He could have surely made a more intense movie using just one of the three parts. I was very drawn to the life of the university professor, but by that point, the film does a complete 180 and follows another person in another direction. Unfortunately, this sacrifices the depth of them all.
Fatih Akin's Soul Kitchen won the Special Jury Prize in Venice and screens today, tomorrow and Saturday in Toronto. "So over-the
Für mich ist Fatih Akin zur Zeit der aktiv talentierteste FilmRegieseur und Drehbuchautor Europas. In Deutschland ist Fatih ein ehrenwürdiger Nachfolger von R.W.Fassbinder und Volker Schlöndorf… read review
I loved this film, the first of Akin’s I have seen. But now I will find and see the rest and look forward to his next.
His characters are so believable and sympathetic, even a bristly one like… read review
Fatih Akin, the prodigy director of the internationally acclaimed ‘Gegen Die Wand’ (Head-On), 2004’s Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear Winner, returns to the silver screens with another remarkable… read review