Head-On (Gegen die Wand) (2004)
Average Rating: 7.4/10
Reviews Counted: 83
Fresh: 75 | Rotten: 8
A raw, provocative drama about star-crossed love and the lives of immigrants caught between the traditional and modern.
Average Rating: 7.6/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 29 | Rotten: 1
A raw, provocative drama about star-crossed love and the lives of immigrants caught between the traditional and modern.
liked it
Average Rating: 4.2/5
User Ratings: 16,864
Movie Info
German-born Turkish filmmaker Fatih Akin writes and directs the drama Gegen die Wand (Head-On). Set in a working-class Hamburg neighborhood, the story follows two Turkish immigrants who get together in a marriage of convenience. Cahit Tomruk (Birol Ünel) is a heavy drinker and a fighter who crashes his car into a wall. While visiting his psychiatrist, Dr. Schiller (Hermann Lause), he meets fellow patient Sibel Guner (Sibel Kekilli). She's desperate to get away from her restrictive family, so she
Cast
-
Birol ??nel
Cahit -
Sibel Kekilli
Sibel -
Catrin Striebeck
Maren -
Given Kirac
Seref -
Meltem Cumbul
Selma -
Cem Akin
Yimaz Guner -
Aysel Iscan
Birsen Guner -
Demir Gokgol
Yunus Guner -
Stefan Gebelhoff
Nico -
Hermann Lause
Dr. Schiller -
Adam Bousdoukos
Lukas -
Ralph Misske
Ammer -
Mehmet Kurtulus
Huseyin -
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All Critics (89) | Top Critics (32) | Fresh (75) | Rotten (8) | DVD (3)
Akin makes this a most intriguing, if roundabout, journey from despair to 'do something.'
Top CriticThe power of Akin's film, which is considerably aided by the two lead performances ... comes from the spectacle of people developing feelings for each other even through numbing layers of mutual narcissism, self-loathing and raging terror of intimacy.
Violent and sexy and funny and sad.
A riveting love story that never flinches from the unsettling reality of a specific social issue or the universal joys that two people can bring to each other's lives, no matter how hard they try to bring agony to their own.
A portrait of passionate, all-consuming love born out of desperation.
By the time the film concludes, you will likely feel better for having gone the distance, for having faced all this head-on.
Beyond its pleasures as a good piece of storytelling, Head-On also provides some interesting commentary on the clash between different cultures.
Ultimately more provocative than insightful.
A gloomy fairy-tale version of a Hollywood romantic film that barely gets past its gloomy outlook on life.
(...) El punk no ha muerto, y esta película es prueba de ello.
A crash course in raw, visceral film-making . . . riding a gritty story and frenetically alive characters, Head-On is a cinematic rush.
Teutonic despair hasn't looked this good since Fassbinder was in business.
...[peppered] with a variety of needlessly self-conscious touches that serve only to distract the viewer from the sporadically intriguing storyline...
not particularly original but it is often riveting enough to hold one's attention.
Heartbreaking in the best way.
Their performances are the heart of a film that is an often comic and raucous look at mismatched personalities, cultural dissonance, and the tender and tentative sense of optimism that keeps all of us alive for another day.
There is an addictive quality to Akin's bizarre but heartrending film ...
Head-On is not pretty to watch most of the time. But it's pretty hard to forget even a dozen hours after the final credits have rolled.
main goal seems to be turning the pretensions of movie-style love on their head
Akin tells a story that's more about flawed characters than political or religious ideology.
The most honestly electrifying film I've seen in years, Fatih Akin's thundering character piece completely captures the joy, fear, and self-loathing of bottoming out.
Sporadically powerful, sensitively acted and full of music, used with imagination and flair.
Audience Reviews for Head-On (Gegen die Wand)
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Movie: ID: 13250 Title: Head-On (Gegen die Wand) Release Date: 2005-01-21 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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Foreign Titles
- Gegen die Wand (DE)
- Head On (Duvara Karsi) (UK)
