Film Review: "Head-On"

“Head-On” is a romantic drama built on a foundation of familiar plot devices. What makes it a good film is that it doesn’t lean on those familiar pieces. Instead, “Head-On” uses them as a starting point to craft its own unique story by injecting a good dose of seedy quirks, hopeless complications, and unique intricacies. Behind writer-director Fatih Akin these elements combine to wonderful effect, shaping the film’s rough edges into an ultra-fractured modern fairy tale that works remarkably well.

To say Cahit Tomruk (Birol Unel) is a mess would be a gross understatement. The scruffy 40-something German Turk lives a hazy existence in a filthy, unkempt apartment, surrounded by piles of empty cans of his drink of choice -- Beck’s Beer -- and when alcohol is not enough, he heads for his stash of his drug of choice -- cocaine. We learn he was once married, but his optimism is long-gone. Now he spends his days working in a dark punk-rock club, stooping to collect empty beer bottles to pay the bills so he can afford to spend his nights lost in a substance-induced stupor.

One night amidst what we’re led to believe is one in an endless series of binges, he’s behind the wheel of a car and decides now is as good a time as any to end his suffering once and for all. But he survives the crash, and is sent to a hospital to recuperate.

That’s where he meets Sibel Guner, the beautiful yet certifiably deranged young German Turk whose out-of-control teenage rebellious angst has led her down the path to attempting suicide by way of sharpened steel to her wrists.

Fortunately, she’s not very good at the whole suicide thing either. You won’t succeed if you cut yourself horizontally, Cahit tells her. You need to cut along the vein. How Cahit became knowledgeable in proper slicing procedures, we can only assume.

To escape from the watchful eye of her family, Sibel is on the lookout for an available husband – and anyone will do as long as they’re of Turkish decent in order to please her parents. Cahit is the first eligible man in sight, so she pounces and makes her proposal. We’ll be roommates, nothing more – free to see other people, no obligations or feelings involved, she explains. Cahit is taken aback at first, but finally agrees.

And thus begins the Cahit-Sibel affair. They’re such an uncanny pair– Cahit the slobby, noticeably older man with a losing track record; and Sibel, the youngster with an affinity to the “instant gratification” vibe – that their inevitable up-and-down romance and its forehead-slapping eccentricities are certainly engrossing.

Take for instance a scene where Sibel and Cahit are dancing in a beat-pounding dance club, Cahit -- in a moment of defined clarity, tells Sibel that he thinks he’s losing his mind. “Of course,” she shrugs, “we all are” -- as if it’s the most normal thing in the world.

Unel and Güner are outstanding. Unel is especially good as Cahit –balancing the right amount of grit and gruff with a caring sentimentality that makes him a likeable character despite a number of unlikable habits. And how these characters are able to get you on their side even though you know their impromptu romance really has no business working out is a testament to the film’s effectiveness as a dramatic love story.

The film also features appealing cinematic elements – for instance a number of shots utilize a freehand technique that gives them an instability and subtle motion. This gives the film an element of unpolished frankness that helps keep the tone of the film in line with its unpolished, openly-flawed characters.

A number of the shots are also stunningly beautiful. The use of bright colors -- particularly apparent in one scene when Cahit is in a car driving at night as the neon lights outside electrifyingly reflect into the car-- provides the film with moments of exciting richness.

During the film there are a few interludes of a Turkish band performing some traditional songs. Other than the fact that the film’s main characters are also Turkish, these scenes seem out of place and interrupt the pacing of the film. However, the interludes do provide an interesting juxtaposition of Old World custom versus New World reality – traditional Turkish values versus the fast-living punk-rock sensibilities of Cahit and Sibel.

A good romantic film doesn’t need uncommonly good looking actors placed in bland, predictable situations to work. As “Head-On” shows, personality can go a long way.