Mommo (2009)

Director:

Atalay Tasdiken

Writer:

Atalay Tasdiken (screenplay)

Release Date:

17 April 2009 (Turkey)

Plot:

A brother and sister are split up after their mother dies, their father remarries, and their new stepmother rejects them. |

Plot Keywords:

One Word Title

Cast

Elif Bülbül	...	Ayse
Mehmet Bülbül	...	Ahmet
Mete Dönmezer	...	Hasan Dede
Mustafa Uzunyilmaz	...	Kazim
Mehmet Usta	...	Istanbullu Bakkal
Mehmet Cigdem	...	Hüseyin
Ali Bakir	...	Ibrahim
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Hanim Bülbül
Ali Çigdem
Sirri Çigdem
Argun Ege
Raziye Güleroglu
Mert Kavakli
Samet Kavakli
Serhat Kavakli
Kerem Petek
Baris Sever
Can Sever
Özcan Ucar

Also Known As:

Kiz kardesim (Turkey: Turkish title)
The Bogeyman (Europe: English title) (festival title)

Runtime:

Argentina:94 min | Germany:94 min (Berlin International Film Festival)

Country:

Turkey

Language:

Turkish

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Hüyük, Konya, Turkey

sad,simple but sweet story from Konya.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Atalay Taşdiken's debut Mommo-The Boogeyman tells the story of two siblings,Ahmet (Mehmet Bülbül),a boy of nine year old and his little sister Ayşe (Elif Bülbül). Ahmet and Ayşe are looked after by their crippled grandfather (Mete Dönmezer) because their father Kazım has gone off to marry another woman after her wife's death and apparently his new wife doesn't want the children. For Ayşe,Ahmet is a friend,an older brother,a teacher, a father whatever you might just call it. For Ahmet, Ayşe is the only one,alongside with his granddaddy,whom he could hold on to. Their grandfather Hasan is aware of the fact that he won't be able to take good care of them forever in his age and condition. His only hope is that his other daughter living in Germany could take the kids into her custody. Though he is himself a child just like his sister Ayşe, Ahmet is cognizant of the fact that their father does not really care about them but Ayşe still yearns for his father's love.

With its simple but sweet cinematography, Mommo reaches the hearts of anyone who had a childhood in such a village. For instance,today's central Anatolian kids would possibly not ever hear of a word "şinik" which means a unit of measure (8 kilos) for grain(which is originally from the language of Anatolian Greeks.) They would never know what it means to carve a toy out of a plank of wood,to get a haircut from your own grandfather,the overjoy of having your own bicycle and learning to ride it by getting all the bruises on your legs like a toddler's going from hobbling to trotting,to make friends with the stars, to pick a star for you and name it as you wish, to read a snail-mail for your elders etc... Filmed in Hüyük,Konya, Mommo gives a sneak peek of simple Anatolian village life that breathes from the Konya Plain where all those wheat fields and the poplar trees offer a pristine ambiance. Mommo, which got the Golden Kite on Nueva Mirada festival in Argentina as the best feature film for young people deserves to be watched by everybody.