Magic Carpet Ride (2005) User Reviews

Good Erdogan movie, but not as good as an Erdogan movie

[ulnoyman · 7/10 · 29 June 2006]

"Organize Isler" is a decent comedy-drama that is sometimes clever but occasionally loses its charm. The name Yilmaz Erdogan always guaranties a good film as his writing talents and the exemplary BKM troupe work smoothly in every project. Erdogan always creates clever plots that the audience could discover another layer with every screening, which, is my opinion, a characteristic only the best movies have. However, 'Organize Isler' has less layers, or at least less interesting layers compared to his earlier works.

Casting seems to be a problem Erdogan has to deal with with every project. Since BKM troupe's long roster of talented actors generally outnumbers the necessary characters in a movie, the danger of 'over-casting' or 'mis-casting' looms large. One can see the effects of this issue in "Organize Isler" (for example the appearance of Iclal Aydin is totally unnecessary in my opinion, without any real contribution to the story told).

The movie is good, clever and entertaining. All actors are good, dependable, experienced and they work with each other well. Cem Yilmaz, who commands more and more respect as an actor with every movie he is in, enhances the value of the movie tremendously, and it seems his special relationship with Erdogan adds to their productivity. The production values are high, with wonderful aerial shots of Istanbul - which, like a constrictor python, seems more beautiful than it really is if you look from far above.

Another personal criticism of mine, which has little to do with the artistic side of the production, is the way the movie puts a human face on the gangsters who ruthlessly rob, kill and terrorize the streets of Istanbul. Although the film watches like a light-hearted anti-hero flick, I find it hard to feel for the "poor, good hearted" robbers with BMWs who would drag an old lady to death if she wont let her purse go.

Not Bad, But Not doesn't Meet Expectations

[mert-uyaroglu · 6/10 · 23 December 2005]

While film was starting with the beautiful scenes from Istanbul, I was ready to watch another great Yilmaz Erdogan movie, like Vizontele. First of all I want to say that the actors and actresses were really great. They had done their best. As usual Cem Yilmaz were starring at the most funny parts of the film, that were very short. If his role was longer, I'm sure this film will become frenzy in Turkey. But the screenplay wasn't so good. It has an unexpected end, which was confused most people. I left the theater with question marks in my mind. In conclusion in spite of first class actors/actresses and a first class facility (Istanbul), a bad screenplay made the movie an over average.

Erdogan adores himself

[tolgaozbalci · 8/10 · 26 December 2005]

a flying cam is not enough to make a movie. The movie is funny. The story isn't that much great but characters are. On each book, movie and play Erdogan reflects his megalomania. There are some technical problems on images(when flying-cam moves very fast the image blurred)The sound was good.Soundtracks are cool. Colors are so good. Erdogan will make better movies I believe. But he should remember that there is no obligation to use flying cam on each scene. He can write the story and direct the movie, but let the other people play. I found some critics about the movie poster,people say it has same style with the "fight club" poster.Next Erdogan movie will be much better.

Excellent Turkish comedy, not just for Turks

[solri · 9/10 · 7 July 2010]

One problem with Turkish comedy is that it tends to be very specific to Turkey: if you aren't Turkish (or living in Turkey), you won't understand a sit-com like Türk Malı or Avrupa Yakası, and you'll even miss a lot of the jokes in a SF comedy like G.O.R.A. Organize İşler (confusingly untranslated as "Magic Carpet Ride" after one of the songs in the soundtrack) is unusual in that it manages to be very Turkish in feel, but universal in its humour.

The film shows us the lives of two families: a middle-class intellectual couple and their daughter on the one side, and the "family" of organized crime on the other. In between is a failed stand-up comedian, "Superman" Samet, whose attempt to hang himself (dressed in his Superman costume) at the beginning of the film is interrupted by our criminal anti-hero Asim, who is escaping a jealous husband. The plot continues in a similarly absurd vein, and critics have complained about the story's disregard for logic, but then this is a comedy; nobody complains that Monty Python and the Holy Grail has an absurd plot. The important thing is that the characters are well drawn, from the irritatingly logical physics professor Nuran to the lovable but unprincipled and incompetent Asim, and the dialogue is hilarious, with a lot of the humour surviving translation. The film also gives a great picture of the contrasts of İstanbul (even though the scenes of the "çingene" neighborhood where the gang live seem to be from İzmir).

Great movie

[ipaasia1 · 10/10 · 5 January 2006]

This is Hilarious and sometimes thought provoking. It has a delightfully clever plot and sparkling performances by the lead stars. This is a genre to a new level and clearly stamps itself as the best. With its copious amounts of action, adventure, drama, and romance it's also a great movie experience. From the skills of the story's original creator, through to the the director's and cast's attention to detail, all of the ingredients combine to make this one of the most entertaining films of the year. It's fantastic with a quality production that's intellectually engaging and the vehicle for a great timely story.A clever and highly amusing independent film. This film is a witty, sophisticated, and multi-faceted film that should appeal to and entertain most adults. It can't be slotted into one genre in particular, but contains elements of drama, humor, and comedy.

Erdogan's cinema gets better

[snncy2000 · 7/10 · 4 February 2006]

As a veteran theater writer and player, Yilmaz Erdogan's first movies, although being funny to average cinema audience, were not more than theatrical sketches on the big screen.

But by this movie, he really managed to shot a real cinema movie. It's got every aspect of a cinema movie, nice plot, good detailed characters, telling the story by acting and good direction, not by direct dialogs.

You might see critics or news about the movie that're saying "it's a movie about Istanbul or it's no more than beautiful air-videos of the city" but this is not true, it's just an illusion that our media likes to create on everything valuable in order to make it look less than actually it is --what a devil act--.

I might call it as a funny love story adventure.

Of course there are some flaws with the movie. It's hard to grasp what kind of relationship Erdogan's character has got with his ex-wife and his daughter and why he has to spy his own daughter and need to kidnap her from her school. They are the scenes that Erdogan felt the story gets weak and he used direct dialogs.

Place selections although being diverse, it's sometimes confusing to audience, ex-wife and her dentist husband seem to be neighbors of the other mafia group? I think, there is only one condition in Erdogan's mind for being rich and it is living in Degirmenkoy! Last but not least, no character represents common Turkish people in this movie, I'm not saying this because I think every movie should do it, but from boring professor to mafia boys they are not like majority living in this country and movie doesn't actually tell anything important while claiming it does. So, after a couple of months nobody will remember this movie ever existed.

I hope Erdogan's next projects will be more strong and closer to real people's real lives...

Breathtaking City-Crime-Comedy film from Yilmaz Erdogan.

[macabreath · 10/10 · 1 January 2006]

First of all, Yilmaz Erdogan's last film, "Organize Isler" is worth to watch I must say. It is built-on a cliché scenario but actors/actresses well played and especially Cem Yilmaz's performance was great.

I must mention that scenes of Istanbul were great. Film takes places in the narrow streets of Istanbul and reflects its colorful harmony perfectly. If you are admirer of this city like me, I'm sure you'll fall in love with the flying camera technique.

Soundtracks are OK, could be more unique. Outro was performed by Nil Karaibrahimgil and according to my tastes, it is OK too.

Last word: Do not forget to watch this beautiful city-crime-comedy film.

Vasat

[daunted_undauntable · 6/10 · 20 January 2006]

It is an "average" movie what Turks may say "vasat". The plot had defects. Things aren't clarified enough for the audience. But, overall, the movie is fun to watch. I appreciate the performance of Cem Yilmaz as a lawless man. Characters were funny and well played. Dialogs were good enough for a comedy movie. Fly cams gave the good vision of the beautiful coasts and quarters of Istanbul but those shots were unnecessarily excessive.

By the way, the scenario of the movie sucked. Girlfriend of Asim Noyan appeared in one or two shots and then disappeared. And I don't want to talk about the end of the movie. It sucked. I wish they had planned the plot better. Yilmaz Erdogan could make a better work. But he couldn't. An average movie at all..

A half scenario times double production quality equals one perfect movie

[ekarademir · 10/10 · 27 December 2005]

First of all I'm a huge fan of Yilmaz Erdogan. On everything he produces, puts his own signature.

OK. Scenario sucks a little. Something is missing but I can't tell.(Because I don't know). Average quality. Also at some parts music is too ordinary (Before a romantic atmosphere occurs one can sense that from the music)

Nevertheless production and performance make up the missing parts. Turkish people love romance, sensitive moments, betrayal, and intrigue. A film full of this kind of stuff without any means of scenario can satisfy a Turk :). However lack of production quality makes those films unbearable. Luckily Organize Isler (Organised Stuff :p) carries production quality of Turkish films one step ahead.

I like this attitude of BKM. Those guys invest their movie money into new movies better than before. Both Yilmaz Erdogan and Cem Yilmaz (G.O.R.A.) have that vision.

So go and see the movie. Hopefully you and your family will enjoy it.

Simply comic

[drciffici · 7/10 · 28 July 2019]

Scenario , conversations are funny. You feel yourself relaxed .It s enough

more than i expected

[jedilost · 8/10 · 1 June 2006]

i have been hearing all the time that the movie was not so good, but had some marvelous scenes of Istanbul. so i hesitated to choose it as a Sunday night movie to watch with my wife.

it turned out to be a perfect choice with more than i expected. knowing Yilmaz Erdogan's earlier movies which don't have a real scenario but some funny dialogs, i wasn't expecting more than that. however i came up with a fulfilled cinema movie with well organized scenario, very smart dialogs, and of course, really the best actors and actresses of the genre. And also scenes from Istanbul were really amazing which increased the taste.

it was really a nice choice to watch with lots of fun and never boring.

Where is the car? Where is the money? Where is the car?

[jack_o_hasanov_imdb · 7/10 · 14 August 2021]

Nil Karaibrahimgil composed very good music, I love this song, the movie was good too.

Below average........

[mustafa_er · 4/10 · 1 January 2006]

I've seen this film the other day and thought wasn't as good as I'd expected. Luckily I didn't go into this movie with very high hopes. Therefore didn't come out quite disappointed. If I'd gone with huge hopes I'd have been immensely disappointed. I don't think anyone really doubted this, but Yilmaz Erdogan hasn't come up with a winner again.

Now, Yilmaz Erdogan fans will hate me for this but I hate the fact that so many people think Organize Isler is a 'perfect' 'flawless' flick because it really isn't. Yilmaz Erdogan was fine as was the rest of the cast to be honest. The acting was very good from everyone, no complaints there.

A problem was that these bunch of shysters live in the middle of Istanbul , obviously for years, and heck no police notices it! My next biggest problem was the way they cheat the people. Come on folks, where do you live ? Aside from these, there were a few other smaller problems too. The Istanbul-shooting from the air, and all the Istanbul-helicopter-tours from the sky was cool at first but dragged on for too long for me. After every scene, being up again in the air sucked really.

Other than this, unfortunately, this film lacks of plot, and the most abrupt ending ever. This film doesn't have any new ideas whatsoever. The story could have been better. Neither thrill nor excitement during the film. No really laughed-my-socks-off moments. Definitely lacks the humour we had expected. What the hell ? You go out of the cinema and wonder "huh ? was it a comedy I've just seen ? or an action flick ? crime ? what !" Yea comedy, then why can't I remember any memorable laugh-out-moments ? OK there were some, but nothing that really stuck in the mind.

Too bad these kind of movies make money anyway because of the director and the actors that are in it. Below average........ 4/10

Excellent

[sinanonline · 8/10 · 6 January 2006]

Bravo to Erdogan, excellent movie. Directing is excellent with emphasis on cinema. There are some holes in the plot, but the witty comedy makes up for them. Casting is quite good but has important minuses.

At the beginning, right before Erdogan (Asim) starts banging on Cevik's (Samet) door to let him in, notice the minaret and the church bell tower. The camera angle is peculiar: The excitement of the pursuit is captured but also the monuments of two religions in mutual symbiosis. Also beneath the monuments, two people find salvation in the next scene. Coincidence? Serendipidious symbolism? Hard to tell, nevertheless, the capturing camera use is prevalent throughout the film: Yilmaz in front of the "plasma," gang going to Yilmaz's hideout, last overview of Istanbul, beginning from Cukurcuma and ending in Sarayburnu. The director (Erdogan) uses the setting as a powerful theme for the movie.

One important achievement of Erdogan is the brave disappearance of moral speeches, a traditional element of Turkish cinema. It had been almost of sin to create a movie without at least one character staring into the space and delivering a moral monologue flavored with left wing ideals, and even Erdogan himself had been using this in his previous works, "Vizontele" series. Gone is that direct embarrassing speech, whatever message is delivered, it is delivered through camera and directing. Notice how the audience observes the rich and poor environments coming right after each other with each scene, sometimes even in the same scene. So much more mature than direct expression.

Plot has its problems. How come Nazli (Berfin Erdogan) returns to Asim (Yilmaz Erdogan)? How did they meet in the first place, or how did she meet with the despicable dentist? These questions are neglected. How come Samet accepts Umut's apology? "Sorry I have used your honesty in the most heartless manner and delivered you and your companions to the criminal lord, but I do truly love you?" Huh? Samet's gullibility seems to know no limits!

However, comedy is a difficult genre, and the jokes - I must admit I had my laugh of the year. Better than "Hirsiz Var," better than the "Vizontele" series and comparable to internationally-acclaimed comedy movies. (I keep comparing it to "Analyze This" and "Whole Nine Yards") "Philology?" "1 hour golf?" "Safe within safe?" "I don't feel cold, I am high?" "Bye-bye hepiniz?" We are left with little time to catch our breath. Jokes keep following each other, just when you think you heard the punchline, the next line take it to a new level. Plus, we have another set of jokes going on in the background. I'll watch again just for these.

Casting and Acting: Cevik for Samet? Excellent. Erdogan for Asim? Couldn't be better. Yilmaz for Muslum? What an unexpected surprise! Gone is the loony comedian, enter the mafia boss, putting hundred-million-dollar mafia movie actors to shame. I had underestimated Yilmaz until now. How much of this is correct casting, and how much is superior acting? I believe it is strong combination of both. Another surprise is Silvio: Who is he? Did I watch the actor or the character? I want to know! The final surprise for me is the rising star Namal. Comparing to her previous performance in "Anlat Istanbul," which was much shorter, she acted out a totally different role with natural ease. I will not be surprised if we see her in some lead roles in the near future.

Always a pleasure to watch, Akbag fits into her role almost like hand in glove. With Erkekli, they create the ever-squabbling couple. We have the pleasure of seeing a large spectrum of mimics from Akbag. However, I can't help but ask myself "Why Physics? Why not philology or some other verbal study that she knows so much better?" The class scene in the beginning is terrible: It is difficult to imagine that scene being written by the same person who wrote the rest. Sun is the largest mass in the *galaxy*?!?! What a factual mistake by a professor of Physics! And ball on stretched sheet is the way to explain gravity to college students? That is kindergarten-level physics. What a failure for such a movie.

And just where does the casting fall short? Berfin Erdogan. Although a small role, it is crucial. She is not too bad, but not the caliber of Yilmaz and Akbag. She is insufficient for the role.

Funny Turkish movie with great views of the city of Istanbul. Very good acting!

[zeynep-karagoz · 8/10 · 20 March 2006]

Organize Isler revolves around a good-willed character, a gangster-to-be thief played by Yilmaz Erdogan who is one of the most talented actor/writer/director in Turkey. The plot is not too complicated, but the dialogs are very well written and you can giggle and laugh increasingly through the movie. Plus, it has really magnificent views, mostly from above, like you are flying above this cosmopolitan, colorful, intimate city. The rest of the cast is also very skilled, most of the one of the best in their league. One of the is Cem Yilmaz, the most famous comedy actor in Turkey, with a relatively small role in this one (has done a great job with it if you ask me). I really liked watching this movie, felt like cruising through a hilarious story! If you are from Turkey, you will have a good time watching Organize Isler. But I do not know if you can get the humor if you don't know Turkish. It probably depends on how good the translation is. Still, I think the movie has a lot of specifically Turkish jokes that you can only get if you are Turkish or if you have lived in Istanbul for a long time. Then again, if you don't get all the jokes, you will have a great look at a great city from a cheerful, sunny screen.

Istanbul

[ebrugaziogullari · 7/10 · 10 July 2006]

After a long time, all you remember will be the great Istanbul scenes. Still, I tell my friends living abroad to see it. I was surprised to see the English name of the film mentioning about the magic carpet. Characters are OK.Cem Yilmaz adds too much to the film although he has a small part. I think Yilmaz Erdogan is better at writing than playing.But he could have found a better end for the film. I love Istanbul very much, so I loved the film.That was the advantage of this film maybe.Yilmaz Erdogan knows that too.The story would not attract people without all these flying camera (magic carpet) scenes.When you miss Istanbul too much, watch the film.You don't need to follow the dialogs closely.

good but disappointing movie, do not go movies with prejudices:)

[necat3321 · 8/10 · 28 January 2006]

after movies previous movies Yilmaz Erdogan, just like Vizontele and Vizontele Tuuba, i and, i suppose, most of us were expecting a great funny movie. also its preview fragments seemed very comic and we went to movie with these feelings. however after watching movie my first feeling was disappointing because it was not funny as much as i expected. however it was not bad too.

the point make this movie bad

for us, i think, was our tendencies and prejudices. about performance, they were really great they did best think. in conclusion it is worth to watch.

Magic Carpet Ride

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 11 September 2018]

That's apparently the english title of the movie. No relationship to a popular song, to be clear. At least none that I am aware of. The movie itself is a comedy that kind of found new life when an online distributor decided to put it into their arsenal/backlog. That's where I found it, even though we did have it in our video store 10 years ago (never saw it there though).

And there is a sequel coming, almost 15 years after the original was made. I do know that the movie is pretty funny and while it may feel strange and off beat at times, it is a cool journey. Whether you think it's on Magic Carpet or otherwise ...

Terrible Carpet Ride

[onuryil-1 · 2/10 · 11 February 2006]

A very good example of how a director is helpless. You cannot pull a good movie out of a script, this bad. Yes, the plot is a disaster. It's too sad to say this because I know Erdogan is a talented writer.

NARRATIVE: First of all, things are resolved without any powerful conflicts.Even fairy tales have to have conflicts to qualify as a story. For instance; how come Nergis leaves her husband and runs back to Asim? What did Asim do to deserve this?.. Kidnapped her daughter? Another leak in the script is about inconsistency. If Umut is that upright, honest person; how come she gets help from the Mafia? And when did she even got acquainted with them? Oh well, when they first met at the job interview... but Umut did not seem so happy even about being there. Did she ever get the job? And what is going on with this gang? What is organized about them? What is original in their methods? How are they different from all the people, gangs we see on TV everyday? If they are not, then why the title? why the movie?

ACTING: The cast consists of very talented actresses/actors (including Yilmaz Erdogan) but the problem here is that they had nothing in hand (in terms of story) to give the audience something new. Except for Cem Yilmaz. He is in fact a comedian and famous for that in Turkey but in this movie, he outdid himself as a gang leader. I liked him more here than his latest movie G.O.R.A.

Yilmaz Erdogan uses almost the same cast in all his movies and I believe this is starting to make the audience feel self-conscious in the theater and lose the "magic of the carpet".

NARRATION: Yes, It's good to have a helicopter. The first scene with the fly-cam, I see the city view from the sky. I think; is it an establishing shot? Will we focus on something here? Minutes later, again I see the city in a long shot, then I think I should connect this narration to a meaning... What meaning? Hmm.. Yes, this is a shot of an "organized" city. The title... Third time... Now what? repetition? Forth time... What a beautiful city... Istanbul... Fifth time... Am I hungry?

Too colorful because what... Funny?.. Do they (gangs) really live like that? Or was that a contrast? But, where are the shadows?

ABOUT the TITLE: When I saw the English title "Magic Carpet Ride" here on IMDb for the first time, I was shocked. The original title of the movie is "Organize isler" which in English, sounds like "Organized works (business)" but in the movie, it is used as "organized works" --> meaning "being organized works". The ironic thing is that, the Turkish word "isler" also covers both meanings. OK, I'm not saying, you have to translate the title directly into another language but if you've caught an irony this nice, why would you ruin it? Let me tell you why, to cover some meaningless narration. The annoying fly-cam repetitions would now gain meaning, you'd think.. OR maybe this is a more attractive title that would sell the movie abroad... and as a result disappoint more people... Magic what? What carpet? What ride?!

FINALLY: I'm not saying, Erdogan is an untalented director, the direction of Vizontele was good indeed but this one... well, I didn't like it a bit. (hayirli isler :)

the most overrated fraud

[serkaneren0 · 1/10 · 22 May 2006]

Take it from a Turkish guy: Do not watch this movie. First it lacks originality. Many things including the jokes, the music, the use of the camera are an imitation of the movie "Im Juli". The plot is primitive, lacks genuinity, the conversations are like taken from a primary school play. The funniest part is that The director-writer-producer Yilmaz Erdogan has chosen to steal from an acclaimed Turkish director who has international movie awards(Faith Akin. Did he really think nobody would notice?

The problem is that this guy, Yilmaz Erdogan, thinks he can do everything great. He is a self-acclaimed actor-poet-stand up comedian-playwright-writer-producer:"A legend in his own mind!". Catch this:He started learning English last year claiming he will write English plays. Anyways enough about him. The excessive movement of camera, all those flying shots, over-saturated colors make up a silly end result.