I had the chance to see Ikilem recently at a seminar in my university about Turkish women and their struggle between politics and religion. I also had the pleasure there to meet her director, Basak Buyukcelen, who graciously agreed to come to Spain to present and talk to us about her film.
Ikilem is her first work and tells a story set in Turkey, although everything in it was actually recreated in Vancouver (where Basak attended the Vancouver Film School). It concerns the conflicts of a very religious Turkish man who one day runs into a prostitute who looks strikingly like his wife. His encounters with her shake the foundations of the man's world as he is exposed to "modern" life through the eyes of the prostitute, loosing his inner peace in the process and seriously changing the relationship with his own wife.
First and foremost, Ikilem has the power of a statement that her director wants to make on that particular world and the characters in it. She uses opposite extremes and opposite lives in the film that, if anything, make the ideas come through more potently. Debut films often deal with issues of particular relevance to their directors, and such is the case with Ikilem, much of whose force comes precisely from the fact that it is a picture that simply "had" to exist, that Basak "needed" to make. She had something to say and she did it (so that she could move along onto her next features - she's already at work on her second and probably very different film).
Another highlight is the very well-balanced point of view she has to offer on the issues at stake (religion, tradition, sexism ) Judgment doesn't appear to be the driving force behind the film, and for all the abject and violent acts that we see the protagonist commit, at the same time there's a very interesting kind of innocence in the actor's face (surely a very conscious casting decision by her director). Basak doesn't turn this religious man into a caricature or someone we could easily dismiss, but on the contrary we can see in his eyes that he means well, even when his acts are at his most ugly, maybe because he just doesn't know any better.
Finally, Basak shows remarkable instincts as a first-time director, as evidenced in her deft placement of objects within the frame or the attention to the body language of her actors (particularly in the long shots that connect them). It's the care that she puts into small and delicate things like these that marks her seriousness and brilliance as a director. Also, for a narrative so rooted in Arab elements, the whole thing bears a lot of curious similarities to what you might call "Catholic" concerns, such as the dichotomy between the virgin and the prostitute, etc., which will no doubt ring a bell to viewers outside Turkey as well.
I won't spoil for you the great and unexpected shot at the end of the film, right after the credits have begun. Let me just say that it's as good and intriguing an open-ending as I've ever seen (don't miss any of the details!). I welcome the arrival of Basak Buyukcelen, a new director and a "real one" at that. It's not every day this happens, so all the more a cause for celebration.
José Gabriel Ferreras (Spain)
Ikilem is her first work and tells a story set in Turkey, although everything in it was actually recreated in Vancouver (where Basak attended the Vancouver Film School). It concerns the conflicts of a very religious Turkish man who one day runs into a prostitute who looks strikingly like his wife. His encounters with her shake the foundations of the man's world as he is exposed to "modern" life through the eyes of the prostitute, loosing his inner peace in the process and seriously changing the relationship with his own wife.
First and foremost, Ikilem has the power of a statement that her director wants to make on that particular world and the characters in it. She uses opposite extremes and opposite lives in the film that, if anything, make the ideas come through more potently. Debut films often deal with issues of particular relevance to their directors, and such is the case with Ikilem, much of whose force comes precisely from the fact that it is a picture that simply "had" to exist, that Basak "needed" to make. She had something to say and she did it (so that she could move along onto her next features - she's already at work on her second and probably very different film).
Another highlight is the very well-balanced point of view she has to offer on the issues at stake (religion, tradition, sexism ) Judgment doesn't appear to be the driving force behind the film, and for all the abject and violent acts that we see the protagonist commit, at the same time there's a very interesting kind of innocence in the actor's face (surely a very conscious casting decision by her director). Basak doesn't turn this religious man into a caricature or someone we could easily dismiss, but on the contrary we can see in his eyes that he means well, even when his acts are at his most ugly, maybe because he just doesn't know any better.
Finally, Basak shows remarkable instincts as a first-time director, as evidenced in her deft placement of objects within the frame or the attention to the body language of her actors (particularly in the long shots that connect them). It's the care that she puts into small and delicate things like these that marks her seriousness and brilliance as a director. Also, for a narrative so rooted in Arab elements, the whole thing bears a lot of curious similarities to what you might call "Catholic" concerns, such as the dichotomy between the virgin and the prostitute, etc., which will no doubt ring a bell to viewers outside Turkey as well.
I won't spoil for you the great and unexpected shot at the end of the film, right after the credits have begun. Let me just say that it's as good and intriguing an open-ending as I've ever seen (don't miss any of the details!). I welcome the arrival of Basak Buyukcelen, a new director and a "real one" at that. It's not every day this happens, so all the more a cause for celebration.
José Gabriel Ferreras (Spain)
