Fightgirl Ayşe

A beautiful and touching movie that deserves a wider viewing than it is likely to get. Semra Turan plays Aicha, a second generation Turkish immigrant, who tries to break the mold. Neither entirely at home with her moderately conservative Muslim family, nor with her liberal Danish friends, Aicha's martial arts experience becomes a fight to find herself and have the strength to allow herself to be who she wants to be in spite of both family and friends.

Director Natasha Arthy manages to balance introspection and narrative so that it has depth without becoming ponderous philosophical discourse, and drawing on Xian Gao's choreography skills pays off in spectacular fight sequences. In the end, however, it is Semra Turan's stunning debut performance that gives this movie spirit. Raw charisma and requisite martial arts skills are complimented by heart to make her personal drama believable.

Well worth your while.

I am a passionate about karate/kung fu/kickboxing movies. My cousin use to be like ten years ago, when he was younger. We have 7 years difference, and i became crazy about this style around 1 year ago... and i gave back the passion to my cousin. When this was released here in Quebec, i talked about it to my cousin, to my surprise he didn't wait to be with me to rent it... like we usually rent these movie together. And when he saw it, he totally dislike it... said to me there was not much fights and the story didn't save it... Well it took me almost 8 months to finally rent it, a night i really didn't know what to pick... and here we are... Glad i did, cause i totally enjoyed it... Sure there is indeed not that much fight and this have nothing to do with grudge match bloodsport style or undisputed style... Its all about the story, about a little girl who want to do what she want and should be allow to do so like every normal north American can do, but sadly she is born in a country and a culture that is way too much old school like its still the 1800s.... I may shock people here but i could never and will never understand the Muslims culture.... I am just SO NOT in religion and old school way of life... So for me that movie was very important, it use a subject i really like(martial arts) to demonstrate a story about racial problems and discrimination... It may not show a lot of fights, and they are very basic too, but its so much more than that.... Im the kind of guy who can appreciate an old school 1995 kickboxing movie about a grudge match between the former and the new champion, but i can also appreciate a good story movie and this is what it is.

I hit the couch to eat lunch and turned on Sundance channel and came in at the first third of the movie . . . didn't leave the couch. Good movie. As in the other movie reviews there is no real new story line here, but what caught me was the lighting. Shots were she is with her family are shot in darker lighting and when Semra is in the environment her heart wants to be in (ex. Kung Fu studio) the lighting is much brighter. Simple little things like this and the floating camera (?) make it a good MOVIE and add power to the story and the acting. I don't know if it was intentional, but Semra's "less is more" acting really helped sell the internal struggle she was going through to deal with the chains of Turkish societal and familial expectations. Now I can't wait to see it again from start to finish - and with my 12 year old daughter who just started serious training in sports. Should be required watching for girls in Jr. High.

Cinematography--Compared to 'The Wrestler,' a degree of verite and cinematic skill that disarms the viewer, and then hypnotizes as well.

Acting--The dialogue is minimal, but the pauses and silence poignant.

Story--The conflict in a 'balkanized' Denmark is volatile, as we saw recently jihad murders in the Netherlands and riots in France. While I harbor no love for Islam, the departure from the West from Christian values holds no cause for celebration.

The director of this film managed to mirror the two societies in a way that belabored neither, emphasizing the development of Aicha as an individual who became a champion, not so much in the ring, but to all those around her. Even her worst . . . I will stop here to avoid the spoiler.

When you are in a gloomy or depressed mood, go watch this film. It shows a lot of beauty and joy in a very simple everyday setting, and it is very encouraging, in particular from a feminist and a humanist perspective.

When you know both the Turkish language and either the Danish or the German language, go watch the film in any case. Half of the dialog is Danish in the original, synchronized to German in the translated version, the other half Turkish, subtitled in Danish or German, respectively. When i watched it in Mannheim, Germany, the reaction of the Turkish-speaking audience proved that there must be a lot of humor in the Turkish dialog, which, deplorably, mostly escaped me, being only imperfectly rendered in the subtitles. Still, the film is interesting even if you lack knowledge of the Turkish.

Esthetically, the movie is playing a lot on the theme of speed and slowness. On first sight, there is lots of corporeal movement fast as lightning, making it a quick, an agitated film. In particular, even though this is a Kung Fu movie, watch out for the running scenes, beautifully expressing a wealth of emotions. But there are quite a few very slow, emotionally intense scenes, too. And above all, the characters develop at a much slower pace than you would expect in a drama about the coming of age; still, there is some movement in the characters to: Closely watch the villain Omar, whose part and acting i liked very much.

The contrast of speed and stillness nicely contributes to the depiction of human rage and dignity - shown at once, in the same characters, at the same time.