Cholera Street

To be frank, Agir Roman, though highly praised by most of the critics in Turkey, was not totally a great work of Mustafa Altioklar.It had some innovative aspects-especially in terms of direction when compared with most of the previous Turkish movies- as well as remarkable shortcomings.

First of all, as for the direction, this movie was quite an accomplishment for Mustafa Altioklar as far as his personal direction style is concerned- I found it very specific, very original and -though rarely- visually stunning. Especially the way he shot the scenes and the stylish camera movements fairly reminded me of the independent films in US. I think in a few years' time, "Agir Roman" may be regarded as a milestone in the Turkish film industry by Turkish critics since it gave rise to the recent popularity of the Turkish movies that were more likely to be shot in "independent film" style (e.g. Karisik pizza, asansor).

As for the acting, I found it quite successful. The cast was simply great. Okan Bayulgen was especially outstanding and thus proved himself a splendid actor, giving the impressive portrayal of an ordinary young man born in a ghetto.

In the next place, however, I would like to point out that if some of the audience did not like this movie despite the high praise of critics, I think the screenplay was the basic reason for that. I especially found the dialogue in most of the scenes fairly unrealistic, as though the events took place almost in a dream world rather than a Turkish ghetto. Moreover, the screenplay was not comprehensible enough to be fathomed by most of the audience so that a considerable number of people I know did not grasp the whole plot for the first time they watched the movie.

Finally, I recommend this movie to the ones who do not expect too much. Yes, it was quite decent but certainly not a must see one!

The movie is excellent at depicting the lifestyle of gypsies and the outlaws. Beyond their way of living, it's the love between an elderly prostitute and a young guy that touches me deeply every time I watch the movie. This unconventional and passionate love is accompanied by sufferings of the two as well as their cravings for each other. The Turkish gypsies' style of living, behaving and sorting things out is intensively depicted throughout the whole movie with gloomy, catchy scenes and dialogs. The director has done a great job at taking the well-known Turkish novel to a new dimension and making the film impossible to forget. It's a unique film on love, lust and revenge. For those who haven't seen it, I have to say it's a must-see movie.

Can you change your fate..? Of course not... Mustafa Altıoklar clearly proves the dominance of our fate on our lives. The film especially reflects the lifestyles of a special group of people (gypsies) in Istanbul. For some, they are disgusting; for some, outlaws; but for me: reality! No one has been so courageous to show the realities of life as Metin Kaçar(author of the original story). The film has the life itself in it: love, hate, crime, mercy, faith, honor, blood and even prostitution! Another and maybe the most important factor that makes the film worth watching at least 10 times is excellent performance of Mustafa Uğurlu(Reis). If you feel ready to face the facts of life, leave your comfortable seats for a while and go deep into narrow and gloomy streets of Istanbul... Don't hesitate, you will find yourself...

I think the movie is certainly above average. It takes place in a ghetto district, in which life is very hard. In fact, the book is about the change of this neighborhood and Salih's family due to modernization. However, the movie is more about crime and drama. In the book, we read how Salih grows from childhood to adulthood, while in the movie, he just grows up after one event. On one of the comments, a viewer has written that there are many unrealistic things in the movie. On the contrary, I found the movie very realistic. However, it is a different reality which we've never seen. It is about a neighborhood to which cops are afraid to come and every known crime is committed openly. And about the cast, the acting is really awesome. Okan Bayülgen has the central role, but even he is just diminished by the strong acting of Savaş Dinçel, Zafer Alagöz, Burak Sergen and Mustafa Uğurlu. I would also recommend you to listen to the soundtrack of the movie.

This film was one of the worst book adaptation movies I have ever seen. Although the book was great, they changed the whole story line, added new scenes, changed the order of events and turned the film film into some kind of a Frankenstein. I can't understand how it was approved to go to market with such an amateur way of script writing.

Being a completely missed chance, acting in this movie remains as an irrelevant discussion as the conversations are completely unrealistic, and the characters are left dull again unlike the book.

I would suggest everyone to read the book, which is a marvelous piece of literature, and skip the film. This movie is nowhere near decent film making.