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From young German-Turkish director Fatih Akin comes a dark, funny love story that also wants to be a road movie and a hip thriller. On a desolate road in Bulgaria, Isa (Mehmet Kurtulus), a Turk from Berlin, stops his car to spray air freshener on the corpse in the trunk. Out of nowhere appears Daniel (Lola rennt’s Moritz Bleibtreu), who begs for a ride and tells Isa his story. A week earlier, it seems, the mild, hapless teacher met bohemian drifter Juli (Christiane Paul) in Hamburg. She sells him a ring with a sun insignia, predicting that this symbol will bring him true love. Ignoring the smitten Juli’s sass and beauty (as well as her sunny name), Daniel falls for Melek (Idil Üner), a gorgeous Turkish tourist with a sun logo on her shirt. They spend one chaste night together, and Daniel decides to stalk, er, visit her in Istanbul. Along the way he meets Juli, who tags along. A dramatic journey ensues: barfights, car chases, drug-fueled hallucinations (including a nice Méliès moment), stolen passports, and a Yugoslavian femme fatale named Luna. Akin does not skimp on romance or fantasy; neither does he drench his film in cliché or pretension. This is a good first-date movie: no sex, but plenty of spark and tension. In German, Turkish, Bulgarian, and Serbo-Croatian with English subtitles. (99 minutes)
BY PEG ALOI
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