My Father's Violin (2022)

Ali Riza and his 8 year old daughter Özlem live a simple existence, making their way through illegal street performing. Often on the run from police, they enjoy life in spite of difficulty, until the day Ali gets a terminal diagnosis. His appeal to his estranged brother Mehmet falls on deaf ears, but after he dies, the professional virtuoso is saddled with the kid anyway. He is cold at first, until his attitude causes girlfriend Suna to storm off, leaving him alone with his new niece. Slowly the two grow closer, and she might be the key in helping him make peace with the past...

My Father's Violin is a family drama from Turkey, with a musical touch. It's pretty well-worn territory, and this is nothing you haven't seen before, but it's delivered in a competent and enjoyable way, enough to make it a worthwhile viewing experience.

The story is cliched, but well written all the same. There's a good mix of drama, comedy, and day-to-day life in here. One area the film perhaps doesn't explore as much as it could have is the fallout of the father's death. After the obligatory 5 minute mourning, Özlem doesn't seem that broken up about it. I wouldn't say the film ever forgets or ignores this, it's just got its hands full developing the relationship with her uncle. This is the crux of the film, and is handled in a fairly believable way.

Özlem is an adorable girl, and talented. Her gifts never come at the cost of her childhood though. She still acts believably childlike, and never fake like she's a 30 year old in a kid's body. One of her best moments is a mix of the two, when a street 'beggar' steals her money, and she fights back.

Mehmet starts out almost quite callous, and doesn't want much to do with Özlem. His love life needs work too, and he says some really out of line things, resulting in him having to take care of the kid alone. Their relationship gradually comes together, with small conversations and moments going a long way, before more dramatic events bring them even closer.

Mehmet's girlfriend Suna is a more positive and friendly character, getting along immediately with Özlem. She's out of the movie fairly quickly though, after some harsh comments from Mehmet send her packing. This is a shame for the girl's sake, but it works in the same way as it does in Annie. She might get along better with Miss Farrell, but if she didn't get time alone with him, the relationship with the frosty Daddy Warbucks couldn't grow. Suna's back for the final act, in a nice enough reunion.

As always in these kinds of films, social services are invariably the bad guys, ready to swoop in and take the child away to a cruel orphanage. My Father's Violin doesn't go overboard with this, but it's still present.

The ending is a little abrupt, and doesn't really resolve the custody issue, but it doesn't really need to either. We get an upbeat and rousing end, and we can just assume everything turned out ok.

My only real complaint with My Father's Violin is the overlong runtime. 2 hours is just a bit excessive, and the story could've been told in less time. The film's at least never boring, but a little snipping here and there could have tightened it up.

The soundtrack here is very good, which is a must for any movie that focuses on music as much as this. We have a standard score, which is pretty decent, then we have assorted violin compositions playing throughout. Many are classic tunes, fitting scenes well and giving some oomph.

The acting is good all round. Engin Altan Düzyatan does well, starting out distant, before becoming more emotional as the movie goes on. Meanwhile, Selim Erdoğan is like a sad Michael Sheen. Belçim Bilgin is nice as Suna. And lastly, there's the film's true lead, and heart-Gülizar Nisa Uray. She gives a very good performance for her age, and manages to be cute but not cloying, and delivers funny and dramatic moments very well, especially for a young newcomer.

The film is in Turkish, but Mehmet does business with a German composer, so naturally they communicate together in English. His scenes kept throwing me through a loop, because Mehmet abruptly switches between languages. Now granted, I do have a slight understanding of English, but man it's still trippy to have your mind switched/attuned to another language, then suddenly they begin speaking your own! As for how well they actually act in English, it's fairly decent, if a bit adorable. 

Lastly, the direction is quite good. Turkey is shown off well, as always (I imagine a gulag awaits for the local directors who make the country look bad, if it were possible!). Dramatic scenes are framed very well too. And the music hall sequences are grandiose.

My Father's Violin is fairly predictable, and won't change the game, but it does everything it needs to, and is worth watching if you like this sort of thing...

Love Tactics (2022)

Aslı is a fashion designer, and secretly the brains behind Love Tactics, a romantic advice blog. After a doubtful comment, she is inspired to prove a point to her followers-She can use her relationship science to make any man fall in love with her. Meanwhile, ad executive Kerem makes a similar bet with his friends. By chance, the two meet at a party, and soon get acquainted. A series of further coincidences see the couple grow closer, and without even realising it, their game is no longer fake...

A very new rom-com, Love Tactics is a co-production between Turkish film studio BKM and Netflix. That might raise some eyebrows, but I have a fair amount of trust in Turkey's current crop of cinema (even if many Turks don't), and they've found themselves a good niche. It must be their dream to get some sweet American money!

The story here is self aware, with both the man and woman thinking they're in charge, trying to show how love is all a big load'a bunkum. Naturally they fall head over heels for real, and it's every bit as cliched as you're expecting. This is hardly a surprising movie, and every big moment is pretty obvious, but it's the kind you go into looking forward to seeing them play out. It also never feels obnoxious with its self-referential attitude to cliches, to my relief.

While knowingly cheesy, the writing is quite good. Despite the cynical main characters, the movie is never mean spirited. I think these elements feed off each-other. Their cynicism helps Love Tactics avoid being too schmaltzy, while the rom-com cheesiness keeps the movie charming.

The romance is handled quite well, cliches and all. There's one scene in particular that feels straight outta Ghost, with its pottery class. It can also be sickeningly sweet in a couple places, and made me groan at the screen.

The humour is pretty successful throughout. It never gets too vulgar, lazy, cheap, and has a good combination of everything. I especially liked the great swearing tirade near the end!

The characters are well-written, and manage to be likeable, despite both being ratbags. That's something I feel the movie excels in. Neither Aslı or Kerem are totally good, both having manipulative ulterior motives, but neither are truly bad, hence why they get swept along in their game. Their actions aren't necessarily wrong (Kerem's a player, but he's not a misogynist, and Aslı is just cynical), it's just their outlooks are coming from the wrong place.

The film has no subplots, it just goes straight from one scene to the next. Pretty refreshing! Not that there's a problem with subplots, but seeing a movie as straightforward as this nowadays was a real surprise. The only drawback is that we don't see the friends getting their own little vignettes, but I at least felt their parts were well written by the end.

While Love Tactics is one big cliche, it actually takes quite a few surprising routes with many of the little details. Namely, the movie turns conventions on their head by having it be the woman who does the worse offence, and has to go rushing to the airport.

The cast here are of particular note. Local heart-throb Şükrü Özyıldız does great as both a smooth player, and a genuine romantic figure. I was particularly impressed with Demet Özdemir, who I've seen before playing the lead in a goofy comedy (Turkish Dance School). Her performance here is so different it was almost hard to believe it was the same actress. The rest of the cast does well, from the skeezy client, to his sultry daughter, and all of the friends (One of whom looks just like a young Hüseyin Peyda!).

The direction here is quite good, and text message/blog post effects are overlaid fairly unobtrusively. Then there's the location work, which looks pretty spectacular, especially thanks to to the framing. Highlights include the outside dinner, and the balloon sequence.

All in all, this shows off the country as well as most Turkish films, but Love Tactics in particular feels like it was financed by the tourism commission. Mission accomplished then, I wanna go riding the balloons in Cappadocia! It's only tourists who can afford them nowadays anyway.

There's a lovely score here by 'Jingle Jungle'. Any worries that they might be a soulless paint-by-numbers outfit are quickly allayed by their charming music, and the ending track in particular is nice. Unless I'm going crazy, it sounds like it mixes social media 'likes' with the melody, in a neat way!

Love Tactics is a pleasant enough movie. Yes, it's cliched, and sure, it may be the product of a potentially soulless corporate union. But if nothing else, it's a fun time. If you like rom-coms, it can't hurt, and if you hate 'em but must watch for the sake of your girlfriend, it won't hurt too badly...

Garbo Talks (1984)

Estelle is a thrifty and opinionated woman, middle aged, and unafraid to speak her mind or get sent to jail for defying an unjust law (even if it only applies to a dishonest discount on cucumbers). She has been a diehard fan of Greta Garbo all her life. When she gets the news that she has a terminal brain tumour, she only has one request-For her son Gilbert to find Garbo for her. Gilbert, an unhappy accountant, has great difficulty fulfilling it, but he is increasingly determined to find Garbo before it's too late...

Garbo Talks is a comedy-drama about idols, death, and life. It's a pretty decent movie, and exactly what you expect going in. The film is reminiscent of Picasso Summer. Both movies involve the search for a reclusive artist, and spend more time chatting with random people on the ground. And both also lack any real life involvement from said artist.

This lack of real involvement from Garbo does harm the film a little. One might make excuses about how the film 'isn't really about Garbo, but what performers can mean for the common man, and how we perceive each-other'. No, the film's called Garbo Talks. It's about Greta friggin' Garbo, yet we spend more time with a random ferry tourist!

Another area I feel the movie fails in is actually showing to us what's so special about Greta Garbo. I'm a film buff, but I've never actually seen any of her movies (shame on me, I know!). This film taught me nothing about her beyond the fact that she's pretty, and could act. Well I knew that! It could be about Audrey Hepburn and would have the same effect. Maybe this was made to preach to the choir, but it won't really teach newbies much. Better to just go out and watch Garbo's movies.

Garbo Talks is a very character driven film. Estelle is a pretty cool old dame. Her principled stance can get a bit stubborn at times, and it isn't exactly endearing when we hear tales of her missing her son's wedding because she refused to pay a toll or something. Like, lady, I get that you hate these little injustices, but there are times when you should suck it up for others. Instead she's the kinda lady who'd miss her kid's birthday if it meant taking a taxi at full rates.

That aside, she's a fun presence, so it's a shame she gets laid up in a hospital bed for the last two thirds, and barely appears. Instead her son Gilbert takes the spotlight.

Gilbert is a pretty browbeaten fella, and his journey to find Garbo not only consumes his life, but also leads to his own self discovery. It also somehow completely drains his bank account, making me question his intelligence, and wonder what the hell he was doing to blitz through so much money! At that stage just find an easier celeb for your mum to meet!

With a shrew of a wife, his marriage is definitely worse for the wear, and it's inevitable for the break-up to come, especially when Gilbert meets another woman. I like that he doesn't just shack up with her, even though his marriage has become loveless. I also appreciate that the movie didn't make the wife one-dimensionally evil, even if she wasn't exactly sympathetic.

The main love interest is a flighty girl who's only in accounting for the money, and has dreams of becoming a star. The film goes a bit overboard trying to make her quirky, and the end result is she's actually kinda annoying. Despite this she's not terrible...until Gilbert finally makes an advance, and she tries stressing she's not out for a relationship (succumbing anyway). So she yearns for him the whole movie, acting like the 'rare young soul who still believes in love', then the second he actually shows interest she's suddenly like 'Yeah, I'm not in it for the long term'. Her likeability instantly plummeted there for me.

There are a few strong supporting characters Gilbert meets on his journey. The first is a photographer. He seems a pretty cheap guy, but after a certain point he stops taking Gilbert's money, and bids him farewell. It's nice seeing him so honourable, and he gets a nice introspective moment. Then there's a gay guy Gilbert meets on a ferry, who is presented positively, and never as a joke. This is 1984 too, during the early AIDS crisis! For a movie of the time to present a character so openly gay in such a normal and casual way, with no fear or jeering, is refreshing.

The climax is a bit weak. There are a few too many avenues for Gilbert to explore, and its gets confusing. The scene with the old actress was unnecessarily short (and contains the most ridiculously specific voicemail imagineable). It's all over so quickly and has such basic information. He coulda just heard from a random source that Garbo likes going to this market and that'd be enough.

After his quest is over, a stronger Gilbert quits his job. But in a strange passive-aggressive way, always absolving his boss of blame, who just sits looking pretty smug about everything. I'm not asking for a grand put-down, but a little revenge would be nice!

Much of the ending of made up of Estelle's meeting with Garbo, who has her back to the audience and never speaks. Because of this it feels like an artificial conversation, not to mention rude. Who just waltzes in without saying Hello and lets another the other person gab on for 10 minutes? Besides that, Estelle's monologue is nice. The film then ends on a nice enough note.

The acting in Garbo Talks is quite good. Anne Bancroft does a fine job. It was a shame to see her kinda get sidelined, but she eventually returns with a very good monologue at the end. Gene Wilder lookalike Ron Silver does well, and carries the bulk of the film reasonably well. Though in his big scene with 'Garbo' he has the intensity of a serial killer. I would have second thoughts before going with this strange man! Carrie Fisher is alright, but doesn't get a lot of time, while Catherine Hicks is a bit annoying, albeit pretty.

The direction here is by Sidney Lumet of all people! Surprisingly prestigious for such a film. It all looks good. We also have a nice animated intro, that gives us Estelle's life story and fascination with Garbo.

Overall, Garbo Talks is a pretty good movie. I'd say my own thoughts were more positive than any of the critics back in the 80s, but I do still have some issues with it. It's not great, and it's not exactly the most informative of films, but it gets the basic job done, and is inoffensive...

Maxie (1985)

Jan and Nick are a happily married couple, but working unsatisfying jobs. Jan is a fairly meek woman, until the discovery of a walled up message, resulting in her possession by 1920s flapper ghost Maxie Malone. Excited to be 'alive' again, with a handsome man by her side, Maxie is determined to see her prematurely ended dreams of becoming an actress a reality once more. Nick agrees to help her if she promises to leave when it's over, hoping he doesn't lose his job or wife in the process...

Maxie is a pretty neat little movie. A lowkey ghost story with fun, romance, and a roaring 20s vibe that is never obnoxious. It's got a fairly simple story, and one that starts off right away, wasting no time.

Maxie has the sound and feel of a made-for-TV movie. If it was actually a theatrical picture, then this probably wasn't intentional, and you'd think it'd be a failure. But considering that it still looks good, and never tries being anything it's not, I felt Maxie did pretty well. Feeling like a TV movie doesn't make it feel cheap, just lower scale.

The characters are good. Nick is an ok guy, whose biggest dilemma at first is whether or not making out with Maxie constitutes as cheating. After laying down some 'no funny business' ground rules, his next issue is trying to solve Maxie's unfinished business so she can leave. Although even keeping an eye on her proves a difficult task.

Jan meanwhile starts off as fairly meek. She's an intelligent woman, but is stuck in a job that doesn't really give her many benefits, and she's too afraid to speak her mind and get a damn holiday once in a while. Much as she'd hate to admit it, she can definitely stand to learn a thing or two from their meddlesome ghost.

While the other two may be the viewpoint characters, it's the titular Maxie who's the true lead in a sense. She's a wild 20s flapper, full of spunk and moxie. She's just crazy enough to be enjoyable, and never obnoxious. She also gets moments of humanity too, my favourite being her emotional reaction to seeing a Chinese drama in the theatre. Her character arc is well-crafted, and comes to a natural conclusion.

The supporting cast is good. The head priest is a surprisingly kind and insightful guy, with an interesting take on things like hauntings and possession. More pragmatic than you'd expect from an old man of the cloth. So much so I have a bit of a hard time believing he won't give his employees a vacation! The younger priest is different, and is in desperate need of either a cold shower, or an early retirement from the clergy! Maxie's old friend is a fun old lady, and I'm disappointed we don't get more scenes with them together.

Maxie never goes for a 'War of the periods' approach, nor is the movie aggressively of its time, with synths or hair metal. It also doesn't go out of its way to build the 1920s up as the greatest time on earth, nor tearing it down. It presents everything in a pretty casual and enjoyable way. The movie doesn't poke fun at silent movie cinema either, and treats it with respect.

The humour is all successful here. Not the funniest movie ever made, but it gets the job done, and makes you laugh. There are a few particularly good moments, like the canine rescue in the ad. And of course, Maxie's antics cause plenty of amusement. There is one missed opportunity though, when the exorcist shows up. I wasn't expecting him to actually meet Maxie, since they're going off for the screen test, but I was at least hoping he'd get dragged into the neighbour's kooky party. It seemed to be shaping up that way, but then never cut back.

The climax is a high point, with the action moving to a Hollywood film set. God only knows what's possessing the studio in this film to produce an epic costume drama when those were box office poison by this time. Particularly Cleopatra, which all but killed the studio system! In any case though, it makes for a fun behind-the-scenes environment. As awkward as it is seeing Jan stumbling her lines when waiting for Maxie to arrive, when she finally does it's great stuff.

The ending is fairly sweet. When I saw the movie as a kid, I actually misheard the closing lines, and thought Maxie had permanently kicked Jan out of her body! I was like "She may have been a bit of a nagger, but you basically murdered her! What assholes!". But no, it's a happy ending, with the leads driving off into the sunset, having learned a thing or two.

Glenn Close does a great job here, not only playing the role of meek and timid Jan, but footloose and fancy free Maxie. She plays each character so different she almost looks like a different person! Mandy Patinkin does well too. If you're used to him older from Criminal Minds or Chicago Hope, he's a lot younger. And if you're used to him with long hair and a goatee from The Princess Bride, it's a surprise seeing him so clean shaven! The rest of the performances are good, including a cameo from Harry Hamlin as himself.

Maxie isn't an effects-heavy film, but what there is looks decent enough. The visuals in general are good, and the Cleopatra set near the end is a great touch. It's got neat lighting and decoration, and the Theda Bara/Liz Taylor influences are appreciated.

Maxie is a perfectly enjoyable movie to sit down with and kill an afternoon. Perfect for tv programming then! If you like these actors, or ghostly rom-coms, it's well worth checking out...