Bornova Bornova (2009) User Reviews

Realistic Look at Turiksh "Modernism"

[batuhanyahya · 10/10 · 8 June 2011]

Inan Temelkuran is a relatively new director(and brother of a famous leftist writer Ece Temelkuran) but his "Bornova Bornova" really has something to say in terms of cinematic language and so-called Turkish modern life... the movie takes place in a day in a city called Izmir(more specifically in Bornova) and it has a "really" realistic feeling which is something rare in Turkish cinema so just for this specialty we had to treasure it. in terms of this realistic way of story telling temelkuran seems very close to Lumet cinema in many ways. even though there is some kind of Turkish new wave developing since 90's(then the young filmmakers following the path of erden kıral,Zeki Okten and alike...) and temelkuran owes something to that (so-called) movement in terms of camera use his movie far more different than those of new wave directors the main reason of this difference is the characters who are actually real and "in the place" they are not some left off-intellectual even the intellectual one feels like he lived something through his life. and all these characters reflects the facts of ordinary life in turkey which is the fatal point of the movie this ordinary life we talked about points the dramatic changes with the 80 military coup and liberal turkey or with the words of prime minister of that time "little America" so this brings us to the point where individualism is becoming the main understanding in the Turkish community(who establish capitalist affairs at a very late stage) and this is a traumatic event... and in this little day that movie takes place temelkuran examines this traumatic state of mind and do this very powerfully. so where this power lies. first off as we talked about it before temelkuran adopts something from his "new wave" peers long plan shots, close ups all of this are the signature Turkish new wave sty lings but in terms of characters, atmosphere and storytelling the movie place itself to some other angle there is a complete different understanding of Turkish community and everyday life. while Turkish cinema has a great realistic movement back in 60's Turkish directors turn their backs to their realistic roots but this movie really adopts some from Turkish realists such as refiğ, erksan, akad etc... and also ones like lumet. during the movie while we get close to the climax of the main story day slowly turns into night the sun slowly disappears and the tension between characters (unknown to others) becomes so intense that the viewer finds himself in a very discomforting position and this is one of the stronger sides of the movie it puts the viewer into the position where he had to react what he just seen as the relation between the main characters dissolves viewer becomes another character that in need to stop all this. what needs to be mention especially is the performances of all the leads(who are mostly unknown to mainstream Turkish audiences) plays really spectacularly natural and really multiple the overall effect of the(since it is a very character based) movie. also the script is very well written the place and the dialogs feels very real and the writer/director really captures the feeling of the bornova streets. over ally this movie succeeds almost every level it is very hard to find any flaws but this movie holds its power in its honest look at the modern life in turkey and it does this with sheer realistic energy and this is a very rare thing to find in modern film-making.

A Good sign for low budget Turk author movie

[tolgaozbalci-1 · 10/10 · 6 March 2010]

Bornova Bornova is a good movie with its non famous cast, good story and new technical approach. Temelkuran built the movie with soft scenes in a suburbia where he lives. Dialogs are strong and sometimes disturbing especially female audiences but extremely warm. Bornova Bornova has an original story which we usually read on newspapers'3rd pages.If you like Demirkubuz movies you'll like Bornova Bornova.I believe Temelkuran starts a new line for the people who has a good story.Temelkuran shows us that Turkish Movies can be produced with low budget and non famous cast.You do not need a perfect hi-end camera and light systems, you do not need famous and expensive cast, you do not need CGI for a good movie.All you need is sincerity.Bravo.

You studied all that time to write for those magazines?This country is like that, kid.

[elsinefilo · 15 August 2010]

Bornova Bornova, which shared the best film award with Reha Erdem's Kosmos in Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival this year is Inan Temelkuran's second feature length movie. The story is set in a neighborhood in today's Bornova,İzmir. Hakan (Öner Erkan)is a youngster who is just fresh out of the compulsory military service. He hopes to get a job as a taxi driver and make a decent living. As naive as he is, he has a huge crush on one of the local high schoolers. His closest friend and confidant is Salih (Kadir Cermik.) Though he looks kind at first, Salih is the rough and ready fellow of the neighborhood. Salih comes from a good family,yet he has been in illegal activities ever since his father got the sack from the state-owned TV because of his radical leftist stance. So,instead of poisoning himself in a factory or making meatballs for minimum wage,Salih would rather poison rich kids by selling them the weed.Murat (Erkan Bektaş ), who is Salih's childhood friend is,on the other hand,a student of philosophy. Since he can't make a living out of philosophy, he makes a living by writing erotic fantasies for a magazine. After all, one can just reel off an erotic story right away rather than busting his brain for a much less amount of money. One day, Murat tells Hakan about a fantasy he has recently written. Apparently,he simply rehashed a sexual experience that Salih has had. When he listens to the story, Hakan is discombobulated to realize that this story has so much to do with Özlem (Damla Sönmez), on whom he has a huge crash. Bornova Bornova sounds like a soft thought-provoking look on today's society. Instead of launching into a furious diatribe against the meteoric cultural decadence, Inan Temelkuran seems to want every viewer to form his/her ideas through the characters he creates. High schoolers who use pot and f*ck around, a high school teacher of ethics who talks about the importance of a high-tech magazine, a student who feigns interest by using Atatürk's name,irresponsible parents who do not really know much about their kids, the boys who are more interested in getting in the pants of girls than forming healthy relationships in salubrious areas. So pick one up. This is the society we live in, we ourselves have built up on that. The acting in the movie feels so natural. Öner Erkan as the naive lover and Kadir Cermik as the psycho of the neighborhood are really good. The dialogs in the movie sound engrossing enough though they sound 'way too real'. Most of the time you feel like you are eavesdropping three people in your local market. For the sake of being realistic and natural, the movie sounds like an unedited footage of your home recording, which feels monotonous and irksome every now and then. The plot has it twists and turns though and that keeps it engaging. Kudos to Inan Temelkuran who made one of the best films of the year out of a simple yet engaging story which otherwise could have been botched up in others' hands.