Im Juli

Wow. What a great film. It's very continental and the plot never seems to fade away or go "Off Topic". Im not a huge fan of German Films, but this ladies and Gentlemen is a masterpiece coming from Hamburg. If only more films like these were made and more exploited. It displays a range of scenic views such as Bavaria, Istanbul, Budapest & Romania. Great cinematopgrahy, acting and story line.

9 out of 10.

I´ve seen this movie yesterday on its opening day. I loved it! Moritz Bleibtreu (one of my favorite german actors) plays Daniel, a young secondary school teacher in Hamburg. A young girl called Juli (Christiane Paul) falls in love with him. She tries to give him a sign, but he don´t recognize it. On the same day, he meets a young turkish girl called Melek (magic:Idil Üner), who is on the way to Istanbul. Daniel falls in love with her. He wants to follow and see her again. But as he leaves Hamburg with his car, he picks up Juli as a hitchiker. A chaotic trip through southern Europe begins...

A romantic road movie with young and talented actors. Watch it!!!

It's been a long time since I've seen a film so unabashedly emotional. It often crosses the line to kitsch (thus getting a little embarrassing sometimes), but that doesn't matter because the whole thing is just so overwhelmingly likeable that I saw it twice in a row. A perfect feel-good-movie for the summer holidays. There are so many great scenes: Daniel and Juli getting stoned and singing "Blue Moon", Luna (played incredibly sexy by Branka Katic) laughing crazily during the chase through Budapest or the photos of Romania (who took those when both Daniel and Juli are in the picture?)

But you better don't scrutinize the logic too closely and while the dialogue also could have been more inspired and witty (as in Fatih Akin's first film "Kurz und schmerzlos"), "Im Juli" more than makes up for it with great characters, inventive cinematography (especially in the hallucinating scenes), a wonderful soundtrack and the rarely seen locations of SouthEastEurope. Makes you want to drive to Istanbul right away. See this film (even if you're a jaded cynic)! I gave it 9/10.

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.

It's almost a miracle: This German film tries to seduce its viewers, and it succeeds! It tells the rather simple story of a young, intelligent man (Moritz Bleibtreu) who doesn't realize that the woman of his dreams (a dread-locked Christiane Paul) is right next to him. Instead he takes on an odyssey from Hamburg, Germany, to Istanbul, Turkey, crossing foreign and often enough hostile grounds (Bavaria, Austria, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria) to get there in time. Right from the beginning the film feels trustworthy - and it gets better all the time. The film is funny, romantic, yet always on the brink of being melodramatic with a glimpse of tragedy here and there. It's an irresistible combination that Germans almost never achieve. (And maybe they wouldn't have done it even with this script - director Fatih Akin is from Turkey!) Bleibtreu, who had a wonderful bit-part as a dumb, tarantinesque killer in "Knockin' on Heaven's door" is very appealing here, but it is the tall and beautiful Christiane Paul (from "Das Leben ist eine Baustelle"/Life is under construction), who delivers the emotional knockout punches. She's plain and simple gorgeous, a revelation to those of haven't had the pleasure of seeing her so far.