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Bookmark this pageMen on the Bridge (2009)
Director: Asli Özge
Movie review
From Time Out London
First-time filmmaker Asli Özge has picked up a number of local awards for this low-key, loosely political docudrama following three men whose lives revolve around Istanbul’s massive Bosphorus Bridge. Two of the lead actors – teenage flower-seller Fikret Portakal and put-upon cabbie Umut Ilker – play versions of themselves, while the third, Murat Tokgöz, plays his real-life traffic cop brother, thanks to a Turkish law which states that policemen can’t moonlight as actors. Özge’s directing style is appropriately unobtrusive, giving his actors plenty of freedom to improvise while still allowing for moments of breathtaking visual beauty. Each of the central performances is impressive, with young Portakal taking the honours as sad-eyed Fikret, whose lack of education leaves him trapped in a demeaning, dead-end job. But with the three leads kept separate from one another throughout, the film tends to feel episodic: a series of moments, some funny, some sad, which never quite coalesce into a compelling narrative.Author: Tom Huddleston
Time Out London Issue 2110: 27 Jan – 2 Feb, 2011
User reviews of this film
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- gill said...
- Posted on Jan 30 2011 07:38 Overall, an extremely dull film to watch.
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Cast & crew
Director: Asli Özge
Cast: Fikret Portakal, Murat Tokgöz, Umut Ilker
Genre(s): Drama
Rated: 15
Duration: 87 mins
UK Release: Jan 28 2011
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