Why can’t we find movies like this every week? Because they don’t exist in quantity. Because Americans wouldn’t go to see them.  When someone dies in a Fatih Akin film, it matters. We connect with the death of that character. It’s not just bang-bang-someone’s-dead-big-deal like it is in so many Hollywood flicks. Incidentally, Fatih is filming a comedy at the moment. We can’t wait!

Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen this film, and plan to, you might want to skip the next paragraph.

Mystery Book
Having watched The Edge of Heaven a few times in the past two weeks, I’ve become interested in the book that Nejat gives to his father. “What’s it about?”, asks dad. “Just read it.” answers Nejat. The book then gets one of its two lingering, full-screen close-ups.  Later on, the father, Ali, puts down the book, with tears in his eyes, as if something he has just read has caused him to have a revelation; one which I assume makes his life unlivable. We know that there are a few Turkish speakers on the MovieNight mailing list. Can anyone shed some light on the book “Demircinin Kizi”, by Selim Ozdogan?

Gay Money?

Thanks to Ieva for blessing us with this Lithuanian bank note. These guys seem to have a special thing going, and in some circles this bank note is worth more than its face value. She paid for her beer with US dollars, by the way.

The MovieNight Contest
To bother, or not to bother… that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous lack of interest, or just stop doing the contest altogether… to die – to sleep, no more: and by sleep to say we end the heart-ache. OK! It’s not as dramatic as all that (sorry Mr. Shakespeare) but we are quite curious as to why nobody played this past week.

Of course, Tory submitted an almost-perfect set of answers, as she often does, but was not officially allowed to enter, due to her previous week’s win.

Oh Cheese!
Yes, the old box of cheese came out aprez. After all, “Cheese is a kind of meat. A tasty yellow beef! I milk it from my teat, but I try to be discreet. Oh Cheese! Oh Cheese!” What?
When the last of our guests left, heading for the stairs which wind their way around the out-of-service elevator shaft, one proclaimed, “Your hospitality is almost Islamic!” Given the circumstances, that was a lovely compliment.