When Fatih Akin was in Istanbul making Head-On with musician Alexander Hacke (of Einstürzende Neubauten) the city obviously made an impression. They returned, armed with laptop and microphones, to record the music of the city. We see underground rock and rap that, while culturally interesting, are no better than the underground rock and rap anywhere else (which is to say, if you aren’t drinking, not very good.) We then meet some young people who are blending traditional Turkish music with pop stylings. Nice guys, but, ugh, the music sounds like Rusted Root. But then we meet the real deal. People playing traditional Turkish music, traditional Romany music, traditional Kurdish music (which until recently was banned) and the movie just fucking explodes. This stuff is absolutely incredible. The movie is therefore saved by its subject which for the first third or so is merely travelogue. Istanbul looks like a great city.
