Lola + Bilidikid

Love, death, hatred, romance, fierce drag queens, coming out stories, underground club scenes... You'll smile, laugh and cry during this beautiful movie set in the Turkish Ghetto in Berlin.

Excinting labyrinth of desires, illusions and freedom's skin. Exploration of ambiguous universe and many questions about facts, gestures or games without end. Fall from artificial paradises and slices of original silence. Bones of old wars and innocence of long expectation.

It is a cruel trip in a harsh way of life. Expresion of special search and everyday lost. It is interesting the relation of characters with Turkish memories. The image of run, the limits of refuge, the routine and the dialogs, the touch of disappointed and the hope of a chimeric future.

In fact, the atmosphere of "Lola + Bilidikid" is the same like in latest Romanians movies ("Stare de fapt", "Marfa si banii", "Pepe si Fifi", Prea tarziu", "Terminus Paradis"). Same moral crisis, same disillusion, same stupid games, same torpor.

But the essence of film is the search of Murat. Hero of Dostoievsky, he lives beyond the secrets or lies. He is projection of his personal discoveries and for him the dreams are more that fiction. He hopes.

Does anyone really need to see movies with gratuitous violence (a gay pimp cutting off a straight boy's genitals) or incest? The writer combined too many story threads trying to create a real shocker. This movie is terrble and truly a waste of money.

As a German-American, this movie smashed me between the eyes on several different levels. First of all, the acting, casting, directing, cinematography, editing, all superb.

This amazing film takes on huge cultural issues and taboos that neither the Germans or their Turkish "guests" really want to face. Culture clash is brutally and honestly portrayed, not only between the two nationalities, but within the cultures as well. The beautiful gay Turk who cannot accept himself, the questioning, sensitive (and beautiful) gay boy trying to find himself and the truth of his family, the wonderfully portrayed German Aristocrat and his oh so proper mother, the gay Aryan boy struggling to prove himself to his thug friends, all combine to make a complex and enthralling film. The script is intriguing and contains many surprises. The strength of character that most of the gay players (the drag queens and Murat especially) exhibit is inspiring. The style of the film is dark and disturbing, showing an aspect of the new Germany that you won't see in any travel brochures.

Raw emotion has rarely been portrayed so effectively on screen.

I am puzzled that this movie has not made a bigger splash worldwide. Rent this film! Go to the Theatre now!

I was disappointed in this film after reading the other comments here and thought I should add my own.

This movie may be an accurate depiction of what life in Berlin for gay Turks is like but it is on the whole a depressing movie. Perhaps Germany is still at this point, but this movie has many of the overtones of the self loathing gay movies that were prevalent in this country in the 50's and 60's. Others have said that there are touches of West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause about this movie but those weren't exactly feel good movies either.

A few more moments spent on the nascent relationship between Murat and the waif-like German boy that he meets could have made all the difference.

Ah well… I've always been a romantic.