This one is a disappointing Ozpetek - like a telenovela, everybody having musical-chairs sex with everybody else and having constant confrontational and emotional crises; one of them dies, they try to get over it. It's a well-made soap opera, but it's still a soap opera. The music is still awesome as in any Ozpetek, and the movie is crafted well. But it does not deliver the transfigurational power of Hamam, La Finestra, or Cuore Sacro. The rare theme he developed in Hamam, and brought to maturity in Cuore Sacro, which centered around a charismatic ancient building housing, or anchoring, the true spirit of an exiled ancestor who had been thought to be lost, and the transfiguring power of rediscovering that - is absent. The magic is gone.
It's still worth watching if you're looking for apologetics for the gay lifestyle, or a feel-good ensemble piece that will pacify you, but not seize and inhabit your center.
The fat Turkish lady, Serra Yilmaz, is still totally fascinating, though; what an actress! Whenever she's on the screen nobody takes their eyes off her. She's like the Turkish equivalent of Thelma Ritter: her timing and delivery is impeccable. She would improve any performance, and her presence makes any movie watchable.
It's still worth watching if you're looking for apologetics for the gay lifestyle, or a feel-good ensemble piece that will pacify you, but not seize and inhabit your center.
The fat Turkish lady, Serra Yilmaz, is still totally fascinating, though; what an actress! Whenever she's on the screen nobody takes their eyes off her. She's like the Turkish equivalent of Thelma Ritter: her timing and delivery is impeccable. She would improve any performance, and her presence makes any movie watchable.