Somersault in a Coffin

This no-budget first feature from a Cyprus-born director is very likely the best Turkish movie of the 1990s. Mahsun (Ugurlu, a distinguished stage actor) is an alcoholic and a street sleeper, known to the Istanbul cops as an expert car thief. Essentially a picaresque account of this human wreck's exploits, which include a turbulent relationship with a junkie prostitute and the theft of a peacock from a national park, the film uses Mahsun as an index of the currents of fear and loathing which it sees permeating life in 'modern' Turkey. Zaim says the character is based on a real-life prototype, but the film has none of the limitations of docu-drama: vigorous hand-held camerawork complements a sophisticated grasp of pacing and structure.