"Head On" begins in a tragi-comic manner, throwing Cahit and Sibel against each other in suicidal furor, literally so. She wants to get out of a world that denies her the freedom she seeks. It's the world of her Turkish family where it is the men's job and duty to keep an eye on the women's innocence. No matter how, murder is the final and very real option. Cahit, on the other hand, is a 40 year old loser, somehow earning his money, taking drugs, we hear about his history, but not much: He was married, we never learn what became of his wife Katharina. Sibel has two options, she tells Cahit: suicide or marrying him. Make no mistake here: She wants to marry him to be free. Free to sleep with whomever she wants, that is. They marry, Cahit falls in love with her. The film at this point turns into tragedy, and a very bitter one.

It is not the last twist or turn in this ever surprising story, but you are ready to take them for granted, all of them, twisting and turning. None of the ways the narrative goes is what Robert McKee will teach you and the only logic it follows is a logic of breakneck despair. And yet: it's all completely believable. "Head On" is by no means a perfect film (whereas Romuald Karmakar's "Die Nacht singt ihre Lieder" is almost too perfect). The leading actress was casted from the street - her only "acting" experience being porn movies -, but even her lack of professional skills fits her role just perfectly. Akin does not have very much of a deliberate concept, it all seems done by intuition, every single picture of it. But it is convincing. It is touching. It is powerful. A comedy, a tragedy, a tragi-comedy. A sad, a gentle ending.

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