AysegulOguz

Despite the publicity and the funny trailer, L'Auberge Espagnole was a bit of a disappointment for me. The plot did not seem that convincing. European youngsters get many opportunities to come together, explore the life and share ideas etc. So, being in Barcelona with a small example of European Union shouldn't be a cultural shock for either of them. Anyway.. The film tries to convince us that they learnt life and they began to understands differences and look-alikes between cultures. In the end all they come up is to save one's ass by lying to her boyfriend. Even if found that scene is funny and entertaining that scene didn't give me the feeling that all these youngsters are now finally best buddies. Moreover some logical parts seem to absent. Such as, the girlfriend and the baby of the Danish guy. Where did they go? And why? Anyway I also agree, being in abroad with many people from various countries is great fun. But the things that you share are much more than sex and drugs and silly night outs. When the film ended I was humming 5th symphony by Beethoven and people around me were saying: and what?

Finally we get the chance to see a Fatih Akin film (apart from some festival screenings!)in Turkey. Even though he is originally Turkish his films never been in Turkish movie theatres before. How weird is that? My two friends and I went to see this film after a tiring workday. We were all full of stress hoping to chill out. After the film we were the happiest people on planet. I haven't seen a film that makes me feel this good for a long time. I felt both proud and jealous for Fatih Akin. He has great directing skills. The electricity between the actors and the director is awesome. You can easily see that everyone who involved this film is happy to be there. And the audience was also so happy to be there and meet this bright young director. I saw couple of German films that directed by young directors (some of them second generation Turkish ones) lately. I must say most of them were really inspiring and brave films. They have the humanity and originality that makes wait for the next example. In the film we see a variety of eccentric (Luna), free spirited (Juli), boring (Daniel), dull (the guardians at the Romanian and Turkish borders) people. But in the end they are all good in their hearts. We see no one truly bad or plain. I watched the director on a talk show the other day. He was also so positive and that tells us how he managed to direct such a "feel good" movie. It is a great idea to end the film in Istanbul, a magical city for a magical ending. Those, who haven't seen the "In July" yet. You don't know what you're missing. You cannot find this taste in any mainstream movie. Go and see this really good film. Thank you Fatih Akin for making this movie. I can't wait to see his next work.