Birol Ünel Movies

Director Vadim Glowna explores such complicated issues as loneliness, guilt, remembrance, mourning, sex, death, and dying in this adaptation of Yasunari Kawabata's novel concerning a most unusual bordello catering to a most unlikely clientele. Edmond is a lonely man in his late sixties. On the advice of his older friend Kogi, Edmond visits a bordello that allows elderly men the rare opportunity to lie down beside beautiful, youthful women. The girls are narcotized before each session, ensuring that they never awaken to actually meet the clients. Presiding over this mysterious establishment is the 60-year-old Madame, a woman who assumes the caring role of mother to both the girls and the men who come to be with them. Each time Edmond lies down next to one of the girls, memories of his previous life come flooding back. Edmond wants nothing more than to disappear silently into death while basking in the glorious perfection of youth. One night, by chance, Edmond observes Madame and her helpers disposing of a corpse. But while Edmond becomes morally conflicted about what he has seen, he cannot stop himself from returning to the bordello. When Edmond begins questioning Madame about the incident, the mystery only seems to deepen. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Acclaimed Kurdish director Hiner Saleem (Vodka Lemon, Dol) takes the reins once again for his seventh feature outing, the offbeat drama Beneath the Rooftops of Paris (AKA Sous les toits de Paris, 2007 - not to be confused with the famous 1930 René Clair film of the same title). French screen legend Michel Piccoli (I'm Going Home) stars as Marcel, an octogenarian Parisian man who inhabits a decrepit and filthy top-tiered flat in the City of Lights, initially with his younger friend Amar (Maurice Benichou). The men experience their final months together as roommates one sticky, sweltering summer. Their days are littered with resolutely small, almost fleeting pleasures, such as consortions with a waitress, Therese (Mylene Demongeot) in a nearby café and temporary respites from the suffocating heat wave that is closing in on Paris via brief dips in the community swimming pool. As time roles on, however, Marcel's life grows unbearably difficult; Amar hearkens off to greener pastures, and as autumn spells an end to the summer, the elderly man's health deteriorates to the point of rendering his life utterly unbearable. Most problematic is the fact that no one seems to stay in his life for any length of time - friends come and go with alarming rapidity, leaving Marcel to fend for himself. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

An Italian woman intent on tracking down the Romany musician who impregnated her becomes lost in a world of Gypsies in director Tony Gatlif's meditative road drama. Convinced that her one-time lover Milan (Marco Castoldi) has been deported by French authorities and determined to let him know about his unborn child, Zingarina (Asia Argento), travels to Romania in the company of her motherly friend Marie (Amira Casar) in hopes of seeking out the elusive musician. Though Zingarina does eventually track Milan to a remote village festival, the rejection she is faced with soon drives the troubled mother-to-be to ditch her friend Marie during the trip back to France. Now wandering the Romanian countryside as her future grows ever more bleak, Zingarina enters into a tentative romance with itinerant trader Tchangalo (Birol Ünel), whose gruff exterior masks a sensual inner beauty. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A destitute child from an impoverished Ukrainian village finds that the world can be a cold and cruel place after being lured from his home by a nefarious huckster under the guise of working in the circus. Barbu is a ten-year-old boy whose dreams of a brighter future find him slowly falling for the hollow promises made by shady promoter Caruso. Though Caruso regularly descends upon the town to seduce gullible children with promises of fame and fortune in the West, the truth about what actually happens to Caruso's children couldn't be more tragic. When Barbu is lured to Berlin and sold to a gang that uses children for stealing, the strong-headed youngster soon determines to make the best of his situation and become the best thief in the bunch. His quest to become the King of Thieves is sidetracked, however, when after learning that Caruso has sold his older sister Mimma to a Berlin brothel, Barbu determines to rescue his sister from a grim future of forced prostitution. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Thomas Arslan, a second generation Turkish director living in Germany, explores the drug culture in the Turkish "guest worker" community in Berlin. Can (Yigit Tamer) is a small time drug dealer in charge of clients in a small area. He is not happy with his situation, but he doesn't know how to change it. He is constantly trying to reconcile the irreconcilable elements in his life: drugs, family, street violence and love. When his boss Hakan promises to make him a bar manager, his hopes are raised. But Hakan is in no hurry to keep his promise. Can's world starts falling apart. The police are after him, his girlfriend Jale leaves him and takes their daughter along, Hakan is killed during an argument, and Can tries to take a regular job as a kitchen helper but can't stand the humiliation. He goes back to his old life and gets arrested by the police. He is condemned to four years in prison, but he still cannot grasp his situation. Dealer is the second part of a trilogy about teenagers of Turkish descent which began with Siblings. However, it is not a direct follow-up, but a continuation on a related topic. Some of the same actors appear in both films. Contrary to the documentary style of Siblings, Dealer describes a mental condition, the inner world of the protagonist. To that end, it uses a minimalist style with very little dialogue. The locale is anonymous -- run-down neighborhoods in an industrial city, which are contrasted with bright summer colors. The film is often reminiscent of Robert Bresson's L'Argent. Dealer received the FIPRESCI (Federation of International Film Critics) Award for the International Forum of New Cinema section of the 49th International Berlin Film Festival, 1999, for its "respectful portrayal of alienated characters and treatment of conventional yet difficult subjects in a visually arresting and vivid manner." ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide