Karanliktakiler (2009) User Reviews

You're invited to the Gulseren's world...

[makiratli · 8/10 · 6 October 2009]

I had to go to this film because i owed Cagan Irmak - the writer and the director of the film - hours of great moments passed in front his amazing films like "Babam ve Oglum", "Issiz Adam" etc. The issue was not attractive to me : The weird relation between mother and the son, Gulseren and Egemen...

Egemen is a character you can pass by on the streets everyday but it's not valid for Gulseren who wander on the limits of schizophrenia and neurotism. She overprotects her life in her house and in this life there is no room for anyone other than Egemen. What is the reason of that kind of life and where will it take them are our main questions in "Karanliktakiler" (can be translated like "Ones in the dark").

I have to say that Irmak has his sign in his movies that i can identify in 15 minutes and it's deepening in this movie. But this is not my type of story! Meral Cetinkaya is shining in her role as Gulseren... Characters are well-written and the music which is hardly-played is good. To the ones who are attracted to the story...

Portrait of a Loser

[l_rawjalaurence · 6/10 · 14 January 2016]

Perhaps one of Çağan Irmak's most ambitious works, shorn of sentimentality, KARANLIK TAKİLER (IN DARKNESS) concentrates on the life of Egemen (Erdem Akakçe), a loser living in one of İstanbul's less salubrious suburbs with his mother Gülseren (Meral Çetinkaya). She believes in his potential to succeed; but in truth Egemen is nothing more than a gofer in an advertising agency run by Umay (Derya Alabora). Unable to tolerate life at home, Egemen spends much of his time in the office, even though he does not actually do much. Eventually life grows so unbearable for him that he decides on a course of action that will change him forever.

KARANLIK TAKİLER shares with many contemporary Turkish films a preoccupation with alienation: Egemen is usually shot in isolation, either constrained by corridors or imprisoned behind a desk. In exterior shots he is largely photographed in medium close-up; when he appears in two-shots, his back is often turned towards his interlocutor. He is truly an ugly duckling; ostracized by most of his workmates as well as his relatives (in one sequence his aunt and uncle silently speculate on why he has holed up at their house on a Sunday afternoon), and hence unable to confess his frustrations to anyone.

Gülseren suffers even more - apparently agoraphobic, she imagines herself besieged in her old-fashioned apartment by unseen (perhaps imaginary) assailants. Tormented each day by street urchins throwing vegetables at her front door, and hurling abuse whenever she appears at the window, she leads a miserable existence. Nor does Egemen appear to empathize with her plight; in one sequence he literally drags her down the stairs and throws her out of the house.

As the narrative unfolds, we understand the reason for her distress. In a series of horrific point of view shots, we understand how she became a virtual prisoner on account of her family's desire to maintain their honor, even if it leads to Gülseren's perpetual suffering.

Despite the sincerity of the performances, Irmak's film takes a superficial view of the characters. There is little attempt, either in the script or in the filming (which tends to be very repetitive, with shot/reverse shot sequences interrupted by occasional aerial shots), to explore the psychological effects of intense loneliness. Rather Irmak tends to pile the pressure on Egemen; he is quite literally someone with no prospect of escape, either physical or psychological.

The ending is something of a cop-out; we know it will happen, but when it occurs, we feel somehow cheated, as if the director took the easy way out rather than exploring the consequences of Egemen's decision to the full.

Masterful examination of aching loneliness

[elsinefilo · 5 June 2010]

Egemen (Erdem Akakce) is minor office worker in an advertising agency. He is in his thirties.With his straightforward and unsophisticated attitudes he is a fellow of artless grace and simple goodness but life is not so easy for our somewhat naive leading actor. In spite of being in an early middle age he still lives with his mother Gülseren (Meral Çetinkaya).A pretty imperious mother figure, she is a paranoid nut job. She never steps out of the door (which reminded me of the fellow who suffers from a post-traumatic stress in the movie "Love in Another Language), she detests any human contact so she throws buckets of water out of the window on the heads of kids who always pester her. She also continuously smokes, she never cooks or takes care of the house. She likes to pretend that she is rich and she speaks by using kooky,quaint,and somewhat archaic Ottoman words. On the other hand, Egemen is a handy versatile person at work. He makes tea,he cleans the office and he runs errands for the agency boss,Umay(Derya Alabora).Derya Alabora (who played the night club prostitute in Zeki Demirkubuz's Kader) again plays a woman who hasn't been able to find Mr. Right. For Egemen, anything that pleases Umay is a world of joy.The office environment is the only let-out for him. Even on Sundays he sometimes gets to the office because the only place he can visit is either his aunt's or night shift worker Rıza's place.

This is the first time I have ever seen Erdem Akakce on the silver screen and I think he gives a great performance in portraying a lonely,middle-aged man who has to deal with a crazed mother.Meral Çetinkaya is also perfect as the crazed mother. She has a role which may sound melodramatic at some points but she does her job well by not turning her situation into gushy pathos. You do not find her sympathetic or cute but in the end you understand what she must have gone through.

In spite off all this cinematic tour-de-force, still some of the things in the movie did not quite convince me. Though I understand this is his animadversion on a wicked sense of gender-bound concept "namus",Cagan Irmak could have produced a better scenario for the reason behind the crazed mother's post-traumatic stress. Because "rape" sounds so predictable and it's a well-worn cliché in the history of Turkish cinema.If Irmak had come up with a more creative story which was not so easy to predict and with a bit more suspenseful twists and turns the story would have been more lively and credible. Moreover, for such a touchy story the soundtracks could have been produced in a more memorable way. Other than the classical track used throughout the movie there is no memorable music in the movie. That's not to say the movie is a forgettable one but all I am saying it could have been way better than that.

a sad life

[Braveheart67 · 5/10 · 19 May 2020]

The story of a family ruined by a big secret. I can't say bad, but you may dont watch it. Meral çetinkaya's acting was perfect. You may get annoyed with him throughout the movie. When the movie ends, you pity on that woman.