Mustafa Hakkinda Hersey

as seen in the name "everything about mustafa" the movie points out different flashbacks to describe the character. you can't make anything out of it unless you try to think everything separately + combining them + understand the whole idea. the best Turkish movie ever and definitely deserved the Oscar for the best foreign movie ( actually i found it to be better than most Oscar nominees )

with more thought and good dialogues added to Turkish movies like "anlat istanbul" and "mustafa hakkinda hersey", already developed Spanish movie sector and developing Turkish movie sector will have a very important affect on European movies.

Sometimes it's wise to set aside one's prejudices against a film and consider it on its own merits as a contribution to the knowledge of the society that produces it.

Such is the case with MUSTAFA HAKKINDA HERŞEY (ALL ABOUT MUSTAFA). A Gothic melodrama reveling in its extremities, Çağan Irmak's film in my opinion piles absurdity on absurdity culminating in a sentimental denouement. But perhaps I am looking at it through jaundiced eyes.

The plot is straightforward: Mustafa (Fikret Kuşkan) is a successful businessman with a wife (Başak Köklükkaya) and son (Arda Seçgün) who runs his own film and advertising business. Life seems fairly good to him, although he does seem a little extreme in his reactions, especially during meetings. His wife Ceren dies unexpectedly in a car accident, that sends Mustafa into paroxysms of grief. Later on he discovers that she had had an affair with taxi-driver Fikret (Nejat İsler), so Mustafa determines to wreak revenge by imprisoning Fikret in a lonely house and forcibly extracting the truth from him. As time passes, we learn that Mostafa has had a highly troubled childhood, which explains why he reacts so excessively to the news of his wife's death.

The film is full of lurid sequences using tilted cameras and vivid colors to denote Mustafa's tortured state of mind. While alone with Fikret, he subjects the unfortunate taxi-driver to extreme forms of punishment, often involving S&M, which makes us feel that there is a sexual dimension to his sadism. The film includes tropes familiar from other Çağan Irmak films - the isolated house recalls KAÇAN FIRSATLAR LİMİTED; the sculptures adumbrate TAMAM MİYİZ?, and the sadism recalls KARANLIK TAKİLER. Throughout we are led to believe that Mustafa's behavior can be attributed to his childhood, especially his relationship to his father (who was equally sadistic).

At the same time he is portrayed as a family man with a touching concern for Kerem. This suggests some kind of cathartic desire; once he has exorcised the devil of childhood from his consciousness, he can be somehow released from mental torment. The diabolic aspects of the film are well brought out through the use of fast cutting.

The film does not tell us much about contemporary Turkish society; rather it suggests that human beings have to find their own means of coping with existence. Sometimes they cannot do this, and hence descend into abnormality.

With everyone around him faking it and him being ignorant to the actual feelings of people in his life, Mustafa gets sucked into a paradigm shift after an unlucky(?) accident places a stranger as the key to piece together his collapsed life. Yet, Mustafa will find more than what he was looking for and maybe much more than he wished for as he listens to his life told to him in a way he never perceived before. The more it is revealed, the more he discovers what has been told cannot be untold and its ramifications keeps resonating until one becomes part of oblivion. Sometimes to live on, we choose what we see and what we believe in even if it is a lie and Mustafa will not have that luxury to live on as he used to from now on, not anymore...and you will have your share of it after Mustafa touches your life. With Mustafa going through a wide spectrum of emotional turmoil, Fikret Kuskan(Mustafa)'s performance is the highlight of the movie while Nejat Isler(Fikret)'s performance shouldn't be left unnoticed as his character goes through his share of frustration and victim psychology. Even though there were some plot problems with the coherence of the movie, overall this movie was a long due achievement for the Turkish Movie Industry with the wonderful choice of "Mor ve Otesi" as the soundtrack. Get a glass of wine and enjoy this wonderful movie and maybe you will get the urge to see the fireflies as well before everything is over.

With the potential of many alternative endings, "Mustafa Hakkinda Hersey" is a very successful movie. It is about some two or three days of a man who lost his wife in a surprising manner, and a lot more. The translation of the title is "Everything about Mustafa" since it covers his all life with minor flashbacks. The cinematography, the scenario, the rhythm and the actors are superb. I would be sorry if the movie is kept in the domestic market and not distributed to western audiences as well. Since I watched it on DVD, which is also well prepared in picture & sound quality, I'd advise all to find and watch it. The soundtrack made by "Mor ve Otesi" is also a good choice and goes parallel with the scenario. Mustafa ( Fikret Kushan ) presents an unexpected character with all details. Overall, for me an 8.5 rating won't be generous too.

A perfect movie. After watching "old boy" i thought a revenge movie could not be better than this movie. But i am so happy to have change of watching "Mustafa Hakkinde Hersey." One important point of this movie is Fikret Kuskan. i show respect him. For the last few years he shows his quality. i think he will have an Oscar for the next ten years. Mor ve Otesi, A rock group from Turkiye. They also fit the movie completely. Sometimes revenge is a meeting with your past. Reasons of many problems are hidden in our past. And as tagline Actually, nothing is what it seems. After seeing this film you need some time to think mustafa and your-self. A life without any lies. Could this be possible?