Mommo

They say the first is from your heart, be it a book, or be it a film. This beautiful film Atalay Tasdiken's debut, will catch you directly from your heart, and it will leave you with a sweet and bitter taste paradoxically. Like time itself. The past was once, we were kids once. But no longer. The film depicts the holding/together of two siblings, one boy and one girl. The elder brother is taking care of his little sister. Their father married to another woman doesn't care about them. Their grandfather is desperate and helpless as he cannot take care of them properly. The boy's strong stance in the face of everything that hurts and comes over them is heroic. Too human, too minimal in a small corner of the world in Turkey, Konya in a village. But if you see the film it is going to open the doors of universal human condition before your eyes into your heart. It is pure poetry and the visuals are stunning and without exaggeration. Just see the film, and remember that once we were kids, that we had unconditional love for our brothers or sisters, that we are fragile! Mommo is one of those films with magic touch and sense of masterful simplicity! Listen to the music of simple and bare life. Sad but sweet! Enjoy it...

The child's bogeyman – the one who steals away children – is a terror we all know about. But as we grow, we learn the truth about the myth. In this downbeat yet engaging story, two young siblings – older brother, Ahmet (Mehmet Bulbul), younger sister, Ayse (Elif Bulbul) – discover that the bogeyman also comes in a familiar guise...

Set in an Anatolian village of Turkey, the story centers upon the two children caught in a familial vise: their mother is dead, their father has left them for a new wife who rejects them, their grandfather is barely able to care for them, and their aunt in Germany is having difficulties is arranging immigration for them to live with her. And looming over the hapless children, as the story opens, is the prospect of being sent off to an orphanage sometime soon.

Slow pacing, excellent photography, faultless acting and simple dialog allow the receptive viewer to fully appreciate the heartbreaking horror of shattered childhood needs that are all too easily compromised by adults who just can't or won't cope. Sure, this type of story has been done before: Oliver Twist (1948 et al), perhaps, being the most well-known example of abused childhood.

But this story doesn't have the twists and turns of grandiose narrative. Instead, the camera, up close and personal, constantly fixes upon and searches the faces of the protagonists as they try to, and do accommodate their daily, simple, emotional abuses; and significantly, there is no comedic relief in the entire story. Throughout, brother and sister find comfort with each other in a series of unforgettable vignettes, all of which flesh out their characters and demonstrate their mutual dependency. Understandably then, we are perhaps reminded of our own childhood losses and disappointments, especially as the closing sequence fades into our memory. Only the hardest of hearts will shrug, shift gears, and then turn away.

The director, Atalay Tasdiken, has written and directed a well-crafted movie; his style reminds me of Nuri Ceylan (Distant, Climates, Three Monkeys etc), who is a master of minimal talk and maximum camera. The child actors are just perfect, while the other players provide exemplary support. The sound track is barely noticeable, even when it is present. For some viewers, though, the pacing will seem sluggish at times.

As the credits roll, there is a statement that the story is based upon true events. I don't doubt that for one moment.

Give this one eight out of ten. Recommended for all.

July 25, 2012

One of the best children's movie alongside hundreds of them I loved. Most of you are already could have seen Majid Majidi's 'Children of Heaven' and 'Children of Invention', this movie was kinda close to these two titles in brother-sister combo. Yes it was about two kids whose mother died very recently and their father got remarried to another woman who has a boy in the same age. Now these kids live in their old and widowed Grandfather's house who has been unable to protect them forever. So they should protect each others from outside world evil especially the elder one should take more responsibility.

The kids were cute, their performances were magnificent, to see their struggle will make us intolerable by our tendered heart. There were no any complicated story, it was very simple like daily life stuff that used to happen in a small place like this. The country was kinda dry but beautiful, it was all camera magic, the places were utilised very wisely for the story.

This movie might tell about two Turkish kids but there's no difference in the struggle in life for little kids whose parents are not there for them when they needed it badly. In other parts of the world even in improved countries, theirs remote places like this movie kids are suffering from the same issue. I had seen some of Turkish movies and this one was one of the best from them. A must see movie and highly recommended.

9½/10

A very successful first feature-length attempt by the director as an example of minimalist cinema centering children where orphaned siblings Ayse and Ahmet who had to live with their old and disabled grandfather after the death of their mother while their ignorant, good for nothing father leaves them to marry with a woman who does not want them. This heart-affecting movie reflects the love between siblings from their eyes very effectively as a heartbreaking story of the unfortunate reality of our world. Congratulations to amateur child players Elif and Mehmet Bülbül as Ayse and Ahmet, and the director Atalay Tasdiken for his player management in succeeding a noticable performance from village kids Elif and Mehmet Bülbül. A must watch...