La visionetele

Turkish cinema is successful only in two genres, drama and comedy, unfortunately. However, in this two genres, there are some masterpiece level movies, I must say. Vizontele is one of them in my opinion, as a great harmony of these two genres. It is the beginning of a new era in Turkish cinema which is dominated by the actors and actresses of this movie in the following decade. The cast of the movie is so to say an 'All-Star' squad of acting containing plenty of master degree acting artists, which is very hard to be encounter again in the future. There are lots of notable performances without a distinction of lead role or back role, some of which are performed by Erkan Can, Köksal Engür, Cem Yılmaz, Cezmi Baskın, Şafak Sezer, Zerrin Sümer, Tolga Çevik, Salih Kalyon, Selahattin Taşdöğen, Sinan Bengier, Erdal Tosun, İclal Aydın, Tuncer Salman, Bican Günalan, Şebnem Sönmez, Serhat Özcan and of course the lead artists Demet Akbağ, Altan Erkekli and Yılmaz Erdoğan. This movie has gifted so many quotes that are used even today in Turkish people's daily conversations. In this manner, it is possible to claim that Vizontele has already became a cult Turkish movie.

Groundbreaking Turkish theatre and television comedy performer Yılmaz Erdoğan ("Bir Demet Tiyatro") teamed up with up-and-coming cinematographer-director Ömer Faruk Sorak ("Asansor") for this self-penned comedy drama drawn from his own childhood memories which was a massive box-office success and was followed by a sequel two years later.

Eccentric electrician "Crazy" Emin (Yılmaz Erdoğan) assists village mayor Nazmi (Altan Erkekli) in setting up a television transmitter, unceremoniously dumped on them by a visiting TRT delegation from Anakara, despite the objections of his own wife (Demet Akbağ) and local cinema impresario Latif (Cezmi Baskın) who decry it as the work of the devil.

Writer-director Yılmaz Erdoğan puts in a strong, but far from domineering, central performance alongside his "Bir Demet Tiyatro" co-stars Demet Akbağ and Altan Erkekli, who both won Golden Orange awards for their performances, as the curious triumvirate at the emotional heart of a story which sends them through the full gamut of emotions.

Comedian Cem Yılmaz ("Everything's Gonna Be Great") heads-up a highly eclectic supporting ensemble also largely drawn from the cast of "Bir Demet Tiyatro", which includes the distinguished Cezmi Baskın, a young Şafak Sezer, and a who's who of guest players including Köksal Engür, Erkan Can, Betül Arım, Zerrin Sümer, Meral Çetinkaya and Yasemin Alkaya.

The debutant directorial duo manage, with the assistance of a truly world class ensemble and a Golden Orange award-winning soundtrack from Kardeş Türküler, a magnificent balancing act between the comedic and tragic elements of the sepia-tinged story of bygone Hakkâri right-up to the seemingly pre-requisite heart-wrenching dénouement.

"lf he's so worried, this vizontele must be a good thing."

Seventies... A small town in the Eastern parts of Turkey... A change in the lives...A sudden change... A new invention called "vizontele"(television) in the town...And a new quest for the people of the town...To operate this new invention... Yilmaz Erdogan, together with the well chosen casting gives a very good performance in reconstructing the tragic-funny events that took place in many of those small towns... The location, the shooting, the directing, the casting, the screenplay all made this the best Turkish movie ever, which in a sense was reflected in the records it broke in terms of box office... Congratulations Erdogan....

Yilmaz Erdogan, I think, improves his career with this film. His colleagues, Cem Yilmaz, Demet Akbag act as they are Oscar awarded actors. I am very proud of this great Turkish movie. I think this means that Turkish cinema is in great progress.

When i first heard about that Turkish movie i have a lot of doubts about it. The script did not sound interesting to me. The fact that i have seen Uzak, an other movie from Turkey (one of my favourites also) helped me a lot to take the decision to watch it. From the first time i realized that this movie is a masterpiece. A real comedy, a real drama. No fake reality, no fake emotions. Everything flows in a perfect harmony. The music, the picture, the characters... Every character in this movie is so unique that you have the feeling that you have met him. You don't have to know Turkish to understand the movie, characters speak with their expressions. Music, life style and the beautiful wild nature fits so perfect together.

This movie, is a true gem. A masterpiece that presents a real culture. You don't have the right to miss it.