The new feature film by Cem Yilmaz is about a man who was an unsuccessful background actor who sells pirated DVDs who wants to save his marriage. That is the curious background of the main actor, Zafer (Cem Yilmaz), finally decides to make a movie to save his relationship. The film they're making is actually an old script, written in 70s, never had a chance to put in act, for various reasons. Therefore, the movie has some funny (and also sad) references to Green Pine era.
The basic idea 'film inside of a film' is often used in world cinema, if not in Turkish cinema. Nevertheless, Mr. Yilmaz manages to bring some fresh ideas which makes the movie good and original. He knows when to make people laugh, when to cry; and he uses time almost perfectly. I cannot simply say that there was any flow in the script. Mise-en-scene is great, which is an issue in New Turkey Cinema I often criticize. The use of a Turkish Cinema Museum is so original that I've heard people talking about it after the movie. I saw the movie with my 14-year-old cousin, who of course knows nothing about Turkish movies before 2000. He said now he has great interest about these old movies. I'd say Cem Yilmaz has done something great for not only artistic issues, but also inspirational purposes. The youngsters who are fan of great comedian now have a desire to know the things that inspired Cem Yilmaz. Acting is also adequate. Suat character (Cengiz Bozkurt) may be the coolest character in the movie, a really bad guy and you cannot simply get mad at him. (You will know when you see it) Cem Yilmaz uses actors who are familiar to him, several years, so many films together... This is something I approve because he know what they can do, and what they cannot. He also used references to his previous works, which are the 'alienation effect'. This is consistent with the idea of film inside of a film. Lastly, there might be one thing to be critical about the film. That is, using so many commercials during the film. Yet, he handles the issue with alienation effect, that make people laugh. One of his conversations, Yilmaz stated that there is an issue of making a budget- free film, but you have to make sacrifices, like the whole crew eating cheddar bread sandwiches in the film set (kaşar-ekmek) when you ran out of money. This is something Yilmaz disagrees. He uses sponsorship delicately. You may be disagree with him. You may be idealistic filmmaker, but then again, Kaşar Ekmek...
