Kebab Connection

Meeting of cultures with comedy and love. I like this movie. You might not laugh a lot but you will find something to learn about Turk traditions. Director is great like in all his movies. Ibo's family is traditional Turkish family and they are trying to adapt with a German wife of their small sons. They are afraid in the beginning but they use to live with this in time, after they learn the they will be Grandparents. In a scene you can see Turk children don't smoke near their parents in Turk traditions. This movie is not only about Turk traditions. Director added Greek traditions too. And there you can see some similarities of Greek and Turk traditions.

I enjoyed this film greatly for its entertainment value as well as the outstanding motifs I felt it translated effectively. One of the motifs I found to be most striking was the sort of coming-of-age. The audience can root for Ibo, the main character because he is portrayed as morally good and we follow him in his pursuit of responsibility and worthiness of a child and Titzi. The motif of cosmopolitanism and the blending of cultures was approached in a light-hearted manor. We see Ibo's struggle to please his father, who is both supportive of Titzi and rejecting to Ibo. The efforts Ibo makes to please Titzi, including lessening his societally deemed masculinity, is refreshing because it is not accompanied by a complete loss of his Turkish culture; it was important for the cosmopolitan discourse for him to not lose his Turkish culture as a result of integration. The most interesting aspect I found in "Kebab Connection" was the film team's use of film inside the film. The use of Ibo's commercials in plot development and exposure of the underlying story to other characters is very clever. The second way the film-in-film technique was used was to show the internal discourse within Ibo. I feel that this is often a great challenge of directors; to discretely show the thought progression of the characters. I felt when watching that this internal peek was effective in both making Ibo more likable and it made it easier for me to "root" for him, and allowing the audience to follow his development. Overall very entertaining and well carried out!

In the beginning I really liked the movie very much. The whole kung-fu advertising stuff is really funny and special. I like Ibo played by Denis Moschitto, he's a real good actor, in Kebap not as good as in Süperseks, but still authentic and with a brilliant way of playing comedy. His father is played very good by Güven Kirac, also very believable and authentic and no cliché type like Hasan Ali Mete's performance of Ibo's uncle. Nora Tschirner is without a doubt extremely beautiful, but her acting is more than boring, and so is her character in the movie. When the first half is over it's getting pretty bad. The whole baby-stuff is pathetic and exaggerated. Only total stupidos will see this as funny. Than you're asking yourself the whole time, why the hell everything is that complicated, why Ibo cannot meet Titzi anymore. It's meant to be romantic and tragic at this part, but it just doesn't work! A good director would have sensed that, but Anno Saul obviously lost the overview on the story. It's just scene after scene after scene without dramaturgy or any empathy. You feel that he just desperately wanted to reach the end of the film by any means, and he just failed. Nevertheless you can watch the movie and have fun, but you better don't expect too much...

From time to time everybody watches a movie they normally wouldn't be interested in, whether it's from boredom, curiosity, or just to try something new, we've all done it. No one ever expects much out of these films and more often than not they seem to flop (I'm looking at you Lifetime Original Movies). Occasionally though we do see one that peeks are interests and gives us more than we expected. This is exactly how I felt about "Kebab Connection."

The movie is somewhat of a mixed bag when it comes to narrative. It falls somewhere between comedy, action, and social drama leading to an interesting variety of scenes. We have emotional moments between protagonist Ibo (Denis Moschitto) and his family, Ibo's struggle to grow up and become mature enough for his upcoming role as a father, witty dialogue with some slapstick comedy tossed in, and that's all topped off by the sporadic kung fu tossed into the film.

The film follows Ibo as he strives to follow his dream and become the first director of a German produced kung fu film. After directing two wildly popular commercials for his uncle's kebab restaurant Ibo finally sees a chance at achieving his dream. Ibo faces many challenges along the way such as impregnating his girlfriend and dealing with the many problems his family create as well. Through all of this we see Ibo struggle with his maturity and self image as he must face the problems he has in order to keep his family and fulfill his dream.

While "Kebab Connection" certainly isn't any blockbuster film it was an enjoyable watch (for me at least). If you have some free time maybe give it a watch, you'll get a few good laughs in as well as some enjoyable feel good moments as well.

When fate is friendly, it makes the impossible possible. Like, what was the probability of some random Romanian movie fan of ever seeing a German film about the Turkish "speciality", Döners? And what is even more amazing, what were the chances of this film actually being a great watch?

The "Kebab Connection" deals with a couple - Turkish boy, German girl - who are about to have a baby and are trying to get back together. But in the whole mix, you've got tradition, family values, a Kebab shop and a Greek "taverna", kung fu and William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In a way, the film is a modern R&J...but it would, paradoxically, be unfair to label it only as such, as it is much more. More than an amusing get-together of events and characters and more than a social satire. It's a film with soul and, most importantly, it's original an authentic in both storyline and plot as well as "presentation". In addition to this, the characters are extremely likable, although they aren't always played at what I felt could have been their maximum potential. But ultimately that doesn't even matter.

Because with all these elements cleverly and humorously brought together, the "Kebab Connection" may well be a small milestone in German comedy. It's worthy all the way. If it hadn't been, what would that say about faith?