Voltrans, the autobiographic story of the Voltrans transfeminist initiative, is definitely one of the best LGBTI+ documentaries of Turkey so far. Taking its name from the popular 1980s comic "Voltron: Defender of the Universe," the documentary warmly emphasizes the empowering power of getting together as members of the transgender community. It describes how LGBTI+ community activists, coming from different backgrounds, who were looking to define and explore themselves, discovered the initiative. The documentary showcases the challenges and triumphs faced by the Voltrans members as they navigate societal norms and prejudices. Through personal narratives and interviews, Voltrans offers a poignant portrayal of the transformative power of self-discovery and collective action within the LGBTI+ community in Turkey. As they got together, they discovered themselves as "transfeminists" and got empowered by sharing their common yet personal experiences. Voltrans presents a powerful picture of the Turkish LGBTI+ community in the 2010s.
Reviews
12 Reviews
10 Days of a Good Man
(2023)
Excellent Turkish Crime Movie
15 March 2023
Iyi Adamin 10 Gunu is a wonderful crime movie. It's a better "hardboiled criminal fiction" film than anything else in the Raymond Chandler canon. There are numerous allusions to Chandler and his famous investigator, Philip Marlowe. The story of Mehmet Eroglu takes this style to Istanbul, Turkey. The movie follows a common yet multilayered plot that introduces us to a variety of complex individuals, local concerns, crooked lawyers, local mobsters, illegal immigrants, violence, love, justice, human traffickers, sex workers, and freaks. Gorgeous Istanbul scenes set the tone for the story. The characters and performances, as well as the story's consistency, are excellent. Putting them together results in an excellent crime movie. We are lucky because it is the first movie of a trilogy.
Ben Gri
(2022)
Indeed a good thriller
5 February 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Ben Gri by Yagmur Taylan and Durul Taylan brothers is indeed a decent thriller. The series is about the conspracy that is played on a lawyer who supports the supremacy of law over evil, but who also defended an accused sex offender in the past. The cast played by Timucin Esen, Alican Yucesoy, Ebru Ozkan are all good, the villains (the sex offender and the conspirator) also play their role perfectly. The series claim nobody is totally clean or dirty, rather they make their fates with their choices. The smiling-face organization forces our hero to pay the debt of his past choices, forcing him to kill or face with predators. The series could be much better with a tighter and longer storyline. In the end, we clearly understand the message, who is who and why is why, but it leaves too much blank spots in the story. This thriller could be better, but it is good in itself indeed.
The Swimmers
(2022)
One of the best refugee movies on Syrian refugee crisis
28 January 2023
I watched lots of movies on refugees, migration and migrants in the last decade, and I can say that The Swimmers is in the top layer. Indeed, it is one of the best refugee movies on still-ongoing Syrian refugee crisis. The real migration story of swimmer-refugee Mardini sisters takes us from the innocent teenage lives in Syria before the conflicts to hard and troubling voyages of Asian, Middle Eastern and African undocumented migrants to Europe. The Swimmers, tells a candid story in the heat of migration in mid-2010s to 2020s, in which some of them can reach their goals, while some cannot and some are lost in the dark waves of Mediterranean Sea, or during the voyage. I can say that with lots of great acting, especially by Manal Issa and Nathalie Issa, and their determines coach portrayed by Matthias Schweighöfer, The Swimmers present the story of Syrian migrants with a sincere and optimistic attitude.
The Nightingale of Bursa
(2023)
Melodrama from a Turkish comedy star
17 January 2023
Bursa Bulbulu (The Nightingale of Bursa) is a melodrama from Ata Demirer and his crew. The movie features the story of a wedding singer, who sings "taverna muzigi" (tavern music) in a pianist (or keyboard player) singer-songwriter style in 1980's. This style, which the singers often sang songs of personal troubles, impossible-loves, love-sickness, sadness, and tragedies, was famous in that era. Ata Demirer, known for his sincere comedies, drifts from this style and moves to a different style, which has lots of famous examples, in which real singers had sung and played in movies of that era. However this movie falls beyond expectations, with lots of poor acting (except Özge Özacar) and and fragmented narratives. The movie can be said to be mediocre, except amazing songs made and sang by Ata Demirer himself.
New Year's Eve
(2022)
Definitely worth watching
1 January 2023
Gulse Birsel, one of the notable names of contemporary Turkish comedy made a new year's eve movie definitely worth watching. The movie is very good since it presents Gulse Birsel's humor but in a more critical sense. The movie brings stark criticisms towards contemporary Turkish society and the aura of Turkish politics through the characters that come together incidentally in a new year's eve night celebration during a Covid-19 lockdown. Those well-played characters are people who we know from our lives. In today's Turkey, Gulse Birsel made a blunt, political yet a naive comedy which we missed. The crew, the characters they play and the acting is also very good, except the lack of chemistry between Fatih Aritman and Sebnem Bozoklu.
Hot Skull
(2022)
A Good Dystopia, But Only "Good"
8 December 2022
Hot Skull is a good Turkish dystopia travelling around contemporary social issues pandemic, state pressure, totalitarianism, resistance, individualism, and search for hope. Presented in a gloomy Istanbul atmosphere portrayed in brown, yellow and green colors, this eight part series tells us the story of Murat Siyavus, a linguist and an intellectual who is immune to the a social-medical pandemic, yet prone to another illness related to (his) bodily reactions. Around social and medical issues, Hot Skull presents a dark future, where the cities are wound round with walls and law enforcement forces. It is a good series since it is a dystopia that is not common in Turkish popular culture and it presents contemporary social-medical issues with good visuals, and credible storytelling. The acting of Osman Sonant, Sevket Coruh, Haluk Bilginer and especially Tilbe Saran are notably good, the rest is unfortunately below average. However, since it is within the boundaries of popular culture (yes Netflix) the series limits itself and almost always stops where it can say something more, and become critical and notable.
Rizzoli & Isles
(2010–2016)
Too Old-Fashioned for a Detective Series
25 November 2022
Rizzoli & Isles is a 2010s-era American detective series. The series focuses on the cases of two female police officers: Jane Rizzoli, a tough police detective, and her friend Dr. Maura Isles, a sophisticated and intellectual criminologist and forensic scientist. The cases are set in Boston. Rizzoli & Isles is a good series for showcasing two strong female characters in the male-dominated crime series genre. The depth of the cases depicted in the series, as well as Rizzoli and Isles' and their colleagues' methods of solving those cases, are all below average. Supporting characters centered on Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, which are mostly made up of Rizzoli's family and the Boston homicide division, are also presented like a sit-com taking place in a single setting, with little depth. As a result, this series replicates TV shows from the late 1970s through the late-1980s era.
Anna
(II) (2019)
Too Much Clichés
20 October 2022
Warning: Spoilers
This is a spy-action movie whose story takes place in the last years of USSR, with the theme USA vs USSR secret services. That might create lots of stories, which may (still) have original storylines. This movie prefers a modern (but common) stance emphasising "both sides were bad". In this sense, Anna tries to put a young (and beautiful) female character to the front. From this point, this movie bogs down. Anna, the hero of the movie, evantually rises to spy-stardom of KGB from ashes in slums. During that story our hero beats everyone without getting beaten in her carreer. She prefers an all-ethical worldview and draws her way. The story follows lines like a woman version of Rambo, or John Wick (yes that's true). Although the movie tries to catch attention with twists, all are imaginable clichés. Therefore, despite all the action and stars like Helen Mirren and Cillan Murphy, this is no more than a mediocre movie.
Terim
(2022)
Mediocre Documentary About a Turkish Football Legend
17 September 2022
Warning: Spoilers
Fatih Terim is a legendary but problematic football figure in Turkish football. The documentary "Grande Terim" (or simply "Terim" in its Turkish version) presents a partial, limited and very one sided picture of the stories around him. Few footballers, few football coaches, few commentators, and yes almost no legendary characters of his successful teams (no Bülent Korkmaz, Tugay Kerimoglu, Ergun Penbe or Hasan Sas for instance) except a few names. The documentary presents an always-right, always dedicated to success image of the man himself.
The documentary simply passes the notoriety of Terim with a few one-sided words from his side, like his quarrel in a restaurant in Alacati, presenting no other story about his sometimes violent attitudes towards his fellow footballers during the matches.
Yet "Grande Terim" is a valuable piece about one of the most successful and internationally famous characters in the contemporary history of Turkish football. However, it is far away from being critical even to a slight sense.
The documentary simply passes the notoriety of Terim with a few one-sided words from his side, like his quarrel in a restaurant in Alacati, presenting no other story about his sometimes violent attitudes towards his fellow footballers during the matches.
Yet "Grande Terim" is a valuable piece about one of the most successful and internationally famous characters in the contemporary history of Turkish football. However, it is far away from being critical even to a slight sense.
Bad Cat
(2016)
Decent animation of a famous Turkish cartoon
17 July 2022
Bulent Ustun's "Kotu Kedi Serafettin" (Bad Cat Serafettin) was a famous monthly comics of the 1990's. Depicted as a stray cat, living in a traditional neighborhood in metropolitan Istanbul, Serafettin, aka "Sero", was a badass, foul-mouthed, villain, sexist, yet a naive and a funny character. In his adventures, he followed is own (macho) ethics. Bulent Ustun's awesome drawings turned adventures of Serafettin to a film-noir like cartoon. Unfortunately, this animation lacks the harshness, and new ideas of Bulent Ustun's drawings and wit. It merely repeats the well-known storylines of former comics.
If you are looking for a children's comics, or maybe an anime, you are in the wrong place. However, miss Kotu Kedi Serafettin, this movie presents a decent animation of Bulent Ustun's famous cartoon.
If you are looking for a children's comics, or maybe an anime, you are in the wrong place. However, miss Kotu Kedi Serafettin, this movie presents a decent animation of Bulent Ustun's famous cartoon.
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