Auslandstournee

This movie started out being not very promising, but it slowly built into something completely beautiful. The set-up, the premise, was really kind of complicated and awkward, and that made it hard to get the film off the ground, but this film maker really knows his stuff. He's an excellent story teller and craftsman.

It could be said that this movie is just a predictable sentimental movie. But I didn't find it wholely predictable. The film maker was successful in keeping a substantial amount of mystery and uncertainty wrapped around things. And the story developed so slowly, so gradually, it was wonderful. And poor chubby lost little Senay starts as just a little lost ghost, her face just a blank mask, and as things progress, we get to see more and more into her face and get to see her more as more as a person. It really was quite incredible for me. This movie really took me by surprise.

One aspect that did seem to be a little overdone was the repeated scenes looking out into the night as Zeki and Senay travel across Europe by car or train. There's no denying the forlorn coldness and emptiness of looking out the window of a moving vehicle at the electric lights of distant streets and houses, but it just begins to seem a little morbid, a little maudlin, after the 4th such scene.

I really can't recommend this movie highly enough. I thoroughly enjoyed it. My only regret was that I saw it as the first film in a double feature, and the second feature really sucked, so that kind of put a damper on what could have been a very nice evening, a very nice mood. You how it is, right?