Piano Girl

Last updated
Piano Girl
PianoGirlFilmPoster.jpg
Theatrical poster
Directed by Murat Saraçoğlu
Written by Sevim Hazer Ünsal
Produced by Tolga Aydın
Starring Tarık Akan
Şerif Sezer
Zuhal Topal
Cinematography Mustafa Kuşcu
Edited by Mustafa Preşeva
Music by Özgün Akgül
Mehmet Erdem
Production
company
Distributed by Pinema
Release date
  • April 17, 2009 (2009-04-17)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryTurkey
LanguageTurkish
Box office$614,899

Piano Girl (Turkish : Deli Deli Olma) is a 2009 Turkish comedy-drama film, directed by Murat Saraçoğlu, starring Tarık Akan and Şerif Sezer as two elderly people forced to question their histories and reveal their big secrets. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on April 17, 2009, was the opening film at the Sinema Burada Film Festival in İzmir, Turkey, [1] and has since been screened in competition at a number of other film festivals, including the 46th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, where, according to Terry Richardson, writing for Today's Zaman, the rapt audience gave it a standing ovation. [2]

Contents

The defunct Today's Zaman mistakenly stated [3] that both Mishka and Popuch were "Molokan". Mihska was the last Russian and Malakan, and Popuch was Turkish Muslim.

Plot

After the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878, Russia acquired part of eastern Anatolia, including Kars Oblast. To quickly populate the area with Russians, undesirable heretics, Spiritual Christians from Russia were given incentives (more land, military exemption, no taxes) to resettle in Kars Oblast in eastern Anatolia. [4] These colonists were called malakan in Turkish, an umbrella term for any Russian settler in the Caucasus. [5]

Among the resettled families is Mişka's. Mishka is Russian diminutive "little Micheal". They operated a water-powered grain mill along a river. Mişka (Tarik Akan) grows old, buries his brother, and now operates the only mill in the village. He cannot compete with new electric mills. He tries to sell apples to pay his bills.

In the meantime, the cranky old woman of the village, Popuç (Şerif Sezer), hates Mişka and does not want him in the village. She owns the store to which poor Mişka owes money. Dreamy flashbacks reveal that Mişka and Popuç fell in love in their youth and his Christian parents forbid him to marry outside their faith. The young Mişka and Popuç are played by the actual children of the parent actors.

Popuç lives with her son Semistan (Levent Tülek), daughter-in-law Figan (Zuhal Topal) and three grandchildren. However, the smallest and most wayward of her granddaughters, Alma, is musically talented and befriends the elder Mişka who teaches her on his old piano, and pays for her education at the Kars music academy. Alma will help two elderly people question their histories and reveal their big secrets.

When Mişka dies, Popuç with a change of heart, intervenes because she is the only Muslim who knows how to properly bury a Christian Malakan.

Cast

Release

General release

The film opened in 133 screens across Turkey on April 17, 2009 at number seven in the Turkish box office chart with an opening weekend gross of $99,761. [6]

Festival screenings

Reception

Box office

The film reached number five in the Turkish box office chart and has made a total gross of $614,899. [6]

Reviews

Terry Richardson, writing for Today's Zaman, describes the comic drama as, Entertaining if melodramatic. [2]

Some reviewers noted there was little information about the Malakan people.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Yol</i> (film) 1982 film by Yılmaz Güney and Şerif Gören

Yol is a 1982 Turkish film directed by Yılmaz Güney and Şerif Gören. The screenplay was written by Güney, and directed by his assistant Gören, as Güney was in prison at the time. Later, after Güney escaped from Imrali prison, he took the negatives of the film to Switzerland and later edited it in Paris.

Atıf Yılmaz Batıbeki was a renowned Turkish film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He was very much a legend in the film industry of Turkey with 119 movies directed. He also wrote screenplays for 53 movies and produced 28 movies from 1951 right up till his death in 2006. He was active in almost every period of the Turkish film industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarık Akan</span> Turkish actor and film producer

Tarık Akan was a Turkish film actor and producer, who started his activity in the 1970s.

The 17th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival was a film festival scheduled to be held in Antalya, Turkey, in 1980, which was cancelled due to the declaration of martial law throughout the country following the military coup on September 12, 1980.

<i>Aaahh Belinda</i> 1986 Turkish film by Atıf Yılmaz

Aaahh Belinda is a 1986 Turkish fantastic comedy film, directed by Atıf Yılmaz, featuring Müjde Ar as a young actress appearing in a TV-commercial for a shampoo, who finds herself transported into the role she plays. The film screened in a competition at the 23rd Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, where it won Golden Oranges for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">46th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival</span>

The 46th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival was a film festival held in Antalya, Turkey which ran from 19 to 17 October 2009.

<i>The Messenger</i> (2008 film) 2008 Turkish film

The Messenger is a 2007 Turkish drama film, written and directed by Çağan Irmak, which follows a man who travels from village to village to tell children stories about a messenger named İbrahim. The film, which was selected for film festivals in Istanbul, Adana and Antalya, went on general release across Turkey on January 25, 2008 and is one of the highest grossing Turkish films of 2008.

<i>On the Way to School</i> 2008 Turkish film

On the Way to School is a 2008 Turkish documentary film directed by Orhan Eskiköy and Özgür Doğan. It has attracted 78,000 people in eight weeks, an impressive showing for a documentary.

<i>Love in Another Language</i> 2009 Turkish film

Love in Another Language is a 2009 Turkish drama film directed by İlksen Başarır, starring Mert Fırat as a young deaf man who falls in love with a call-center worker. The film, which went on nationwide general release on December 18, 2009, won awards at film festivals in Antalya, Bursa and Ankara as well as the 3rd Yeşilçam Awards.

<i>Black Dogs Barking</i> 2009 Turkish film

Black Dogs Barking is a 2009 Turkish drama film, written, produced and directed by Mehmet Bahadır Er with co-director Maryna Er Gorbach, starring Cemal Toktaş as a naive young parking attendant who gets mixed up with the mob in pursuit of his dream of running his own car park. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on March 19, 2010, won awards at film festivals in Antalya and Ankara and its newcomer directors have been hailed as Turkey's answer to Martin Scorsese, for their inventive shooting style and authentic ear for the city's underground slang demonstrated in this their debut film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">3rd Yeşilçam Awards</span>

The 3rd Yeşilçam Awards, presented by the Turkish Foundation of Cinema and Audiovisual Culture (TÜRSAK) and Beyoğlu Municipality, honored the best Turkish films of 2009 and took place on March 23, 2010, at the Lütfi Kırdar Congress and Exhibition Hall in Istanbul, Turkey. Veteran Turkish actress Filiz Akın received the Special Achievement Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">47th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival</span>

The 47th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival was a film festival held in Antalya, Turkey which ran from October 9 to 14, 2010. Prizes were awarded in four competitions in the course of the festival, at which 191 films were shown at 12 venues across the city with the theme Cinema and Social Interaction and Italian actress Claudia Cardinale was the guest of honor.

<i>Five Cities</i> 2010 Turkish film

Five Cities is a 2010 Turkish drama film, written, produced and directed by Onur Ünlü, about a young policeman just arrived in Istanbul who falls in love with a woman in a candy shop. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on April 9, 2010, won awards at film festivals in Antalya and Istanbul and has been described as, an absurd poetic tale of five seemingly unrelated people’s lives.

<i>The Crossing</i> (2010 film) 2010 Turkish film

The Crossing is a 2010 Turkish drama film directed by Selim Demirdelen, which is about a devoted family man who comes home from work one day to find his house deserted. The film went on general release across Turkey on October 1, 2010 and was selected for several festivals, including the 47th Antalya "Golden Orange" International Film Festival and the 17th Adana "Golden Boll" International Film Festival, where it won several awards.

<i>White as Snow</i> (2010 film) 2010 Turkish film

White as Snow is a 2010 Turkish drama film written and directed by Selim Güneş based on the short story Ayran by Sabahattin Ali, which tells the story of a 9-year-old boy who must care for his younger siblings by selling hot drinks to weary winter travelers. The film was selected for the 46th Chicago International Film Festival and the 47th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, where it premiered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">48th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival</span>

The 48th International Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival was a film festival held in Antalya, Turkey from October 8 to 14, 2011. Films were shown with the theme "...And the Woman Touched the World" focusing on women and the violence that women face in their daily lives. The Golden Orange selection committees, including the International and National Competition Juries, were entirely composed of female members for the first time in the festival's history.

The Herd is a 1978 Turkish drama film, written, produced and co-directed by Yılmaz Güney with Zeki Ökten during Güney's second imprisonment, featuring Tarık Akan as a peasant, forced by a local blood feud to sell his sheep in faraway Ankara. According to his own account, the development of the script of Sürü, began in 1973 in prison in Selimya and finished it while in prison in Izmit. The conditions to write were at times rather difficult, in Izmit he wrote in a room he shared together with eighty other inmates. The film, which went on nationwide general release on 27 September 1978, was screened in competition at the 30th Berlin International Film Festival, where it won Interfilm and OCIC Awards, the Locarno International Film Festival, where it won Golden Leopard and Special Mention, was scheduled to compete in the cancelled 17th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, for which it received 6 Belated Golden Oranges, including Best Film and Best Director, was awarded the BFI Sutherland Trophy and was voted one of the 10 Best Turkish Films by the Ankara Cinema Association.

Zuhal Topal is a Turkish actress and TV presenter. She has presented Turkish TV programmes. Topal graduated from Istanbul Architecture Faculty Interior Architecture. She took a variety of roles by acting in many films. She was cast in popular fantasy child series "Sihirli Annem", "Selena" and fantasy comedy "Ruhsar". She played as Şükufe in franchise comedy series "Geniş Aile".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mehmet Erdem</span> Turkish musician

Mehmet Erdem is a Turkish musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known for song "Herkes Aynı Hayatta".

References

  1. 1 2 "İzmir film festival begins". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 2009-09-24. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  2. 1 2 Richardson, Terry. "The 46th Antalya Golden Orange festival: a personal retrospective". Today's Zaman. Retrieved 2010-02-24.[ permanent dead link ]
  3. 1 2 "10 titles vying for prizes at Bursa's Silk Road festival". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 2009-10-31. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  4. ↑ Breyfogle, Nicholas B. (June 2005). Heretics and Colonizers: Forging Russia's Empire in the South Caucasus. Cornell University Press. pp. 1–19. ISBN   0-8014-4242-7 . Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  5. ↑ Conovaloff, Andrei. "Taxonomy of 3 Spiritual Christian groups from Russia: Molokane, Pryguny and Dukh-i-zhizniki — books, fellowship, holidays, prophets and songs". Spiritual Christians from Russia Around the World. Retrieved 19 December 2024. Who/what are malakan?
  6. 1 2 "Deli Deli Olma". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  7. ↑ "Emerging directors dominate Golden Orange competition". Today's Zaman. Archived from the original on 2014-04-29. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  8. ↑ "Deli Deli Olma / Piano Girl". BISRFF. Archived from the original on 2011-07-13. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
  9. ↑ "Deli Deli Olma / Piano Girl". AIFF. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16. Retrieved 2010-02-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.