Infused with cultural and political concerns, this film weaves together a rich tapestry of musical styles that celebrate the diversity that makes up contemporary Turkish life.
Infused with cultural and political concerns, this film weaves together a rich tapestry of musical styles that celebrate the diversity that makes up contemporary Turkish life.
The rich musical heritage of the Turkish metropolis located between the Orient and the Occident comes to the screen in director Fatih Akin's cinematic tribute to Istanbul's thriving music scene. In bringing both historic and recent expressions of Istanbul's unique legacy of music to the screen in a documentary that strives to both inform and entertain, Akin offers compelling insight into both the creative history of the city as well as the lives of the individuals who populate it. ~ Jason
Buchanan, Rovi
Crossing the Bridge does more than offer a wide variety of entertaining and intoxicating Turkish music. It also uses music to paint a portrait of a vibrant, cosmopolitan city and provide a window into a rich and varied national culture.
Even as Crossing the Bridge acknowledges differences, tensions, the provocative power music exerts on our hearts, it makes an elegant, head-bopping, hip-swaying argument that sound unifies.
Akin's documentary gets its legs from the subtle questions it raises about Turkey's politics, nationalism, religious identity, cultural integrity and international perception.
It's a tasty sonic apertif to an unfamiliar world, and likely to inspire more than a few folks to make a beeline for the world music browser at the music store.
The musical selections are nothing if not eclectic -- rock, hop-hop, psychedelic, folk, electronica, traditional -- and include some perky performances. But Crossing the Bridge is more than just a musical primer.
A delightful survey of Turkish music's many intriguing variations, as well as a fascinating, if somewhat superficial, portrait of one of the most historic cities on Earth.
The music is gorgeous, and Akin's feverish camera shows an exile's love of the beautiful, crumbling but energized city as he pokes around its crevices, looking for recombinations of old and new, here and there.
Though not nearly as exhilarating or illuminating as Buena Vista Social Club, this structurelss docu does capture the unique variety of sounds of Istanbul, a city strategically positied between East and West.
Then-and-now footage of aging legends such as Erkin Koray and Sezen Aksu offers an insight into the musical continuum that bridges a rich heritage with a promising future.
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