Marco Berger has come out with another movie that’s really beautiful and sexy, but it’s definitely not like the ones he usually makes where guys are just full of sexual tension. This one is filmed in black-and-white and looks amazing. The director found a really weird way to show how humans connect and how sexuality works by using a "man as a dog" idea. It’s a pretty strange but interesting movie that makes you think. The story takes place in a world that’s parallel to ours, where two straight couples are on vacation on an island. You see two guys on a boat calling out to someone, and then this naked, lonely, and really good-looking guy shows up. In this dreamy kind of world, the group calls him a "man," but he basically acts like a pet dog. In this setup, the word "men" refers to naked male humans that people own as pets, just like we own dogs. People are scared of stray men just like they're scared of stray dogs. There are also "women" who ...
This amazing film takes on huge cultural issues and taboos that neither the Germans or their Turkish "guests" really want to face. Add to this setting the fact that the film deals with the taboos of gay life, transgender and transvestite men, and the stresses of families who deal with these issues on a daily basis and the result is a film full of richly detailed stories.
Lola, a Turkish drag queen has a lover Bili, a macho, closeted Turk who views his role as the Man and Lola as the woman and encourages Lola to have gender altering surgery so they can live as husband and wife back in Turkey. Murat is Lola's baby brother, also gay, living with his mother and older brother, Osman who disowned Lola for being gay. Murat was born after Lola left home. After 15 years Lola returns home to demand his inheritance share to proceed with his sex change and finds out about Murat. They reunite because Murat is tired of Osman. Lola and Murat plan to meet the next day but 2 days later Lola's body is found. Ultimately a deep secrt is revealed that Osman would sexually abuse Lola before he eventually threw her out of house and it is he who eventually murdered her. This is the main story of the film. Other side stories include a fascinating relationship between another Turk Iskender who is picked up by an older elegant German Friedrich. And there is the gay bashing drama between young German lads and the Turks.
Amazing acting by everyone in the film. It was so real and you could feel for the characters. Is is heartbreaking to see what some people have to go through in life. Raw emotion has rarely been portrayed so effectively on screen. Brilliant direction too.
Worth a watch. Its real and gruesome. (7/10)
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