Dondurmam gaymak (2006)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Yüksel Aksu

Writer:

Yüksel Aksu (writer)

Release Date:

24 November 2006 (Turkey)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Ali, who is ice cream salesman in Mugla, tries to survive in the face of fierce competition from the big ice cream brands...

Plot Keywords:

Ice Cream | Turkish | Oscar | Mediterranean | Aegean

Awards:

5 wins

Cast

Nejat Altinsoy	...	Komunist Mustafa
Mehmet Amca	...	Arif Dede
Levent Aras	...	Coban
Ayse Aslan	...	The mother
Burcin Batu	...	Gas seller
Tolga Candar	...	Doctor
Gulnihal Demir	...	Canfeda
Ali Dural	...	Gang 4
Huseyin Dural	...	Gang 5
Arap Fevzi	...	Arap Fevzi
Muammer Gokmen	...	Tailor
Ozcan Gozer	...	Ice Cream seller
Sultan Tolgu Kadem	...	Local woman
Kadir Kapiz	...	Gang 3
Muhammet Kiyak	...	Barber
Local People of Mugla
Erdinc Ozal	...	Coffee Shop Owner
Zeynep Ozal	...	Beautiful little girl
Mehmet Özbek	...	Polis memuru
Turan Ozdemir	...	Ali
Alptug Saribas	...	Gang 2
Ulas Saribas	...	Kamil
Alptug Sefik	...	Gang 6
Ismet Can Suda	...	Tingoz Kerim
Ali Sefik Tavil	...	Kamil Baba
Burcu Tuna	...	Daughter
Saadetin Unsal	...	The Guard
Tunay Urper	...	Seller
Celil Yagiz	...	Shop Owner
Recep Yener	...	Imam
Metin Yildiz	...	Gasteci Metin
Canberk Zaifoglu	...	Gang 1

Also Known As:

Ice Cream, I Scream (International: English title)

Runtime:

Turkey:100 min

Country:

Turkey

Language:

Turkish

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Mugla, Turkey

Company:

Hermès Film

Trivia:

Turan Ozdemir spent a few weeks before the film started shooting as the apprentice of a real ice cream salesman in the village.

They did the hardest thing; employing 'public' for leading roles...

Since I don't have the heart to harshly criticize these small-budget movies (especially if they give social messages with a social content) as well as I cannot eliminate my emotional attachment to them, I won't be harsh on this one either, but I have a few notes...

First of all there is a serious problem of 'accent'. Since they employed the public of Mugla towns as actors and their accent is different than those who speak clear Turkish, and probably they didn't give enough time for actor instructors to train these people in terms of diction etc., while watching the movie Turkish spectators had hard time to clearly understand the dialogs. Even just because of this, many jokes were missed. If this different accent were to be used, the lines had to be spoken more clearly and slowly...

The first half of the movie, due to the fact I explored above, was away from being engrossing. If the story is based on such a social content and such a small interesting event, there had to be included more elements to attach the spectators to the movie and to be gripping.

After watching the movie I told myself "I wish they had reshot the first half all over again" because it's obvious that it took time for actors to get used to their roles, to adaptate themselves to the movie. For example the wife's mimics and gestures during her fights with the ice cream seller in the first 30 minutes were not satisfying. She looked like she was just waiting for her turn to speak, ignoring what her husband was talking about, and she was in a lack of appropriate response in her facial movements; which tore her link to naturalism.

We all know that it's the hardest thing to train kid actors, especially if they have never seen a camera before and all of a sudden they are in a big movie having big parts in it! I must say that they all managed it well! I can't forget the look on Kamil's face and his voice, his perfect toning while he confessed that he stole the ice cream. He really did give the emotion well.

Turan Ozdemir is really very successful, I congratulate him.

However the movie is not capable of being a nominee for Oscar. Even Yuksel Aksu himself was not expecting the movie to make such a big scene in the country. He is surprised with the great attention it obtained. Nevertheless, considering how much labour and how great effort the crew spent for this movie, in addition to the crucial message it gives, we all have to congratulate them and celebrate it's success. The struggle of a very few directors, writers and thinkers in Turkey is deeply worth being proud of.