In her first feature length movie, Pelin Esmer tells the story of her own uncle Mithat Esmer. Mithat Esmer was also her 'subject' in her documentary Koleksiyoncu: The Collector (2002).Mithat Esmer lives on the fourth floor of Emniyet Apartment Building. The vast collection he has assembled that dates back to 1950s leave him with a camped flat to live. Yet, he is determined to hold onto that collection to keep it growing every day.For Mr. Mithat, Istanbul is a never-ending space to cover for his collection.For Ali,the apartment concierge (Nejat İşler) on the other hand,Istanbul is as limited as the surroundings of the Apartment Building. Ali lives alone in the caretaker flat because he has sent his family back to the village he came from when his daughter developed asthma because of the humidity.
10 to 11 which got the Best Film and Best Screenplay awards in Adana Golden Boll Film Festival tells a unique, sweet,humanitarian story. The screenplay is indeed an original one. As far as I remember,nobody in Turkish cinema tried to tell what sort of trials and tribulations an assiduous collector has had to bear with. Though Mr Mithat is liked by everyone who knows how an avid collector he is, he does not seem to be liked by anyone else.No apartment residents seem to understand him. Stupid as it may sound, the biggest excuse they hold against him is the weight of old newspapers he has been organizing on the floor in that supposedly fragile apartment.
Though I am sure that Pelin Esmer has really good intentions behind making Mr. Mithat play himself in the movie, Mithat Esmer is not a professional actor and the way he acts seems so wooden and hammy, especially on the street. The way he bargains with the street vendors, the way he talks with the female restaurant owner sound so mannered that you get the impression that he might have just forgotten his line. Nejat Isler is undoubtedly one of the most liked actors in Turkish cinema but unfortunately he does not sound like someone who has just left his village and wanted to make a life for his family in Istanbul.His acting is just not good enough for a concierge.
With its humanitarian story, original screenplay that takes like at its center 10 to 11 could have been a great movie if it had dialogs engaging enough because when you make a slow-paced movie you should just find something captivating in it.With that pace and such dialogs you might just want to fast-forward the flick.
10 to 11 which got the Best Film and Best Screenplay awards in Adana Golden Boll Film Festival tells a unique, sweet,humanitarian story. The screenplay is indeed an original one. As far as I remember,nobody in Turkish cinema tried to tell what sort of trials and tribulations an assiduous collector has had to bear with. Though Mr Mithat is liked by everyone who knows how an avid collector he is, he does not seem to be liked by anyone else.No apartment residents seem to understand him. Stupid as it may sound, the biggest excuse they hold against him is the weight of old newspapers he has been organizing on the floor in that supposedly fragile apartment.
Though I am sure that Pelin Esmer has really good intentions behind making Mr. Mithat play himself in the movie, Mithat Esmer is not a professional actor and the way he acts seems so wooden and hammy, especially on the street. The way he bargains with the street vendors, the way he talks with the female restaurant owner sound so mannered that you get the impression that he might have just forgotten his line. Nejat Isler is undoubtedly one of the most liked actors in Turkish cinema but unfortunately he does not sound like someone who has just left his village and wanted to make a life for his family in Istanbul.His acting is just not good enough for a concierge.
With its humanitarian story, original screenplay that takes like at its center 10 to 11 could have been a great movie if it had dialogs engaging enough because when you make a slow-paced movie you should just find something captivating in it.With that pace and such dialogs you might just want to fast-forward the flick.
