Romance has been so overdone at the movies that the even a casual filmgoer has become aware of all the clichés and plot turns. If we’ve seen every love story then why do we keep watching? Because a film’s power almost always lies not in it’s subject so much as how the story is told. The wonderful film Head-On proves the point.
This German-Turkish production, available now on Netflix Watch Instant, breathes new life into a tired genre. Cahit (Birol Ünel) is not doing well, to say the least. He drinks himself into an angry stupor every night, and just barely gets by earning money picking up empty bottles at a music club. He tries to end it all one night by driving his car into a wall (“There were no skid marks,” a doctor tells him). As he recovers in a hospital, he meets Sibel (Sibel Kekilli, who you may have seen in Season 1 of Game of Thrones on HBO), a suicidal 21-year-old woman looking to break out of her family’s strict lifestyle.
Sibel sees an opportunity to grasp the freedom she yearns for by marrying Cahit, because he’s of Turkish descent, which her family will approve of, and strikes a deal with him. She’ll move in, cook and keep his apartment clean, but they will only be married on paper, for she has desires to satiate (“I want to live, Cahit. To live and to dance and to fuck!” she proclaims boldly).
What could go wrong, right? Any halfwit could figure out that these two will inevitably fall for each other, much as they resist it. But thanks to the stylish, cool direction by Fatih Akin (his other films, “The Edge of Heaven” and “Soul Kitchen” are also available on Netflix streaming and worth your time), all the familiarities feel fresh and alive.
Like his lead character Sibel, the director is breaking free of all the strictures of the mostly inane modern romantic comedy. It also helps that the two leads give electric performances, and the soundtrack – an blend of Turkish tunes with pop hits from the past – is an ace. When Sibel, who’s simply one of the most beautiful women to walk this earth (and a real-life former porn star to boot), strolls with a wide smile to the sounds of Wendy Rene’s “After Laughter (Comes Tears),” well, that’s a moment of movie magic right there.
“Head-On” is the anti rom-com; proof that tired tropes can feel new and alive if done with a level of care and intelligence. The film also gives us insight, organically through its narrative, into the plight of many women in this part of the world, and thankfully never descends to didactic soap boxing. As messed up as she is, Sibel is a hero worth admiring, and so is this film.
