The Edge of Heaven Tagged Articles at Cinematical

What were the surprises at this year's Cannes Film Festival? Does the showcasing of films like Waltz with Bashir and Che at the world's premier film festival mean that traditional film making has been replaced by a new wave of technology and technique? Which factor had more to do with the lower-than-expected number of sales at this year's Cannes Festival -- weak films, or the weak dollar? Is there a subtle subtext to the past few years at Cannes, and what were the films that got away this year? Joining us this week to talk about all these topics and more is Glenn Kenny, the former film critic for Premiere who's now blogging independently at Some Came Running. Cinematical's podcast is now available through iTunes; you can subscribe at this link. Also, you can listen directly here at Cinematical by clicking below:



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The 34 year-old director Fatih Akin was born in Germany of Turkish ancestry, a ready-made outsider. But the most remarkable thing about his films is that while they acknowledge his cross-cultural divide, they don't necessarily deal with the issue of trying to fit in with a satisfying click on one side or another. Rather, this acknowledgment simply adds layers of color and nuance, dissolving borders rather than reinforcing them. His films have done nothing but improve: his 2000 romantic comedy In July was a delightful summer road movie with a fairly predictable conclusion. His 2005 film Head-On started out like a similar situation romance, but suddenly switched to something more dire and engaging. And now The Edge of Heaven is his most accomplished film yet. It was also another in a series of superb submissions for last year's Best Foreign Language Film Oscar that the Academy chose not to nominate.

You might recall that last year's winner of the Best Foreign Language Oscar came from Germany: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's superb drama The Lives of Others. The film examined the effects of a government spying upon its own citizens; in her review for Cinematical, Martha Fischer wrote: "What's most impressive about The Lives of Others is how smoothly it blends politics with both the traditional elements of thrillers and unabashed sentimentality." The Lives of Others is a tough act for anyone to follow. Cineuropa is reporting that Germany has selected another drama for their Academy Award submission this year, though with a decidedly different subject: Fatih Akin's The Edge of Heaven.

The Edge of Heaven won the screenplay prize at Cannes. Our own James Rocchi commented: "Akin's latest movie is about a father and son, and a mother and a daughter; it's also about the gulf and gap between Europe and Turkey, between the West and Islam, between repentance and forgiveness." He liked certain aspects of the movie, but couldn't shake his feeling "that The Edge of Heaven's twists and tricks are, in their own way, predictably unexpected. ... [It's] just another journey down what used to be the road less traveled."

I liked one of the director's previous films, Head On, very much, so despite the less than enthusiastic reviews I'm still hoping The Edge of Heaven gets picked up for US distribution. It opens theatrically in Germany on September 27. The official site has more pictures and information, though none of the text is in English.