Zuhal Olcay Movies

A mother's search for her missing son highlights this dramatic tale of loss from director Tayfun Pirselimoglu. An older woman who works at an Istanbul train station, Sukran (Zuhal Olcay), shares a close relationship with her son, Veysel, who works in a workshop on the edge of the city. Her husband having been politically active in the past, Sukran's protective nature is driven by the fact that she tried to keep Veysel politically neutral during his upbringing. When Veysel disappears one day, Sukran is thrown into a panic and turns the streets inside out in a desperate bid to find her missing son. With no arrest record and only a photograph of an unidentifiable body (which Veysel's girlfriend insists is his), Sukran refuses to give up hope that her son is alive. Soon given a lead by kindly train station barber Ahmet, Sukran heads for Mardin after hearing that a man with the same name as her son was arrested and subsequently escaped during transport. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

This Turkish film chronicles a love triangle upon the southern coast of Turkey. Agah, a man in his fifties, has left city life in favor of a more bucolic existence where he can practice calligraphy and be with his young mistress Yildiz. Unfortunately Yildiz is too fiery and the two often fight. Matters are complicated by Agah's wife who moves into a neighbor's house to try to win him back. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

A night club photographer, obsessed by a young woman who searches for a meaning in the sad faces he photographs every night, follows her through forgotten towns and abandoned places trying to give purpose to her mysterious search. Inspired by Kara Kitap (The Black Book, the internationally acclaimed novel by Orman Pamuk who has written the script, influenced by Sufi philosophy, Gizli Yüz) takes the viewer on a mystical journey where time becomes an important leitmotiv. At times, the audience is as lost as the protagonist in pursuing the unknown. But the film is viewed best when it is taken as it is, without searching for interpretations. The mysterious woman is played by the beautiful and talented Zühal Olcay, who is confortable in this role. In addition to several national awards, Gizli Yüz has won three awards at the Mediterranean Film Festival in Bastia (Corsica) and the Public Prize at the Fribourg Festival in Switzerland. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, Rovi

Ironies abound in this extremely sad melodrama about Elif (Zuhal Olcay), a Turkish immigrant in Germany who has been sent to prison for murdering her abusive husband. At the time of her imprisonment, she has never ventured outside the Turkish community, and even there has had no friends because of the demands her husband placed on her. She speaks no German. Now, in a place which most people find to be hell on earth, she gains a never-before known taste of freedom among these strangers, who don't even speak her own language. Unfortunately, as a "guest worker," she is horrified to discover that she is soon to be transferred to the horrific prisons of Turkey and will stand trial there for her crime, which will be much less understandingly dealt with in her home country than it would have been in Germany. The false paradise she must say goodbye to is her German prison. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

The road is not quite as desperate as the characters in this car-chase drama. After Hasan (Kadir Inanir), a Turkish truck driver, has finished a stint in a German prison and returned home, he discovers his best friend is now an invalid. His friend has become involved in some shady dealings that take a turn for the worse, and one day he disappears. Hasan has to get his friend's wife (who was once Hasan's girlfriend) and her daughter out of the area before something happens to them. The three take off across Turkey, with two gangsters in hot pursuit. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi