STRAND REALEASING
10 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE July 28, 2000
eveningsout
The trials of being both gay and Turkish-in Berlin
Lola and Billy the Kid
Directed by Kutlug Ataman Cleveland Cinematheque
Reviewed by Anthony Glassman
Germany is a country caught in an undeclared civil war. The majority of the country wants to move ahead, make amends for the crimes of its past and meet the shining future with clean hands. There are, however, many who look to the past as a time of greatness, Deutschland über alles, and view outsiders and foreigners as a threat to its purity. It's a pretty serious situation.
Of course, when you add gay to foreigner, you get it from both sides: racist German purists, and from your own kind. since many of the ethnic groups in Germany are from Muslim countries.
Enter the film Lola and Billy the Kid, by Turkish director Kutlug Ataman.
The story revolves around three main characters. Lola (Gandi Mukli.) a drag queen whose Turkish family moved to Germany at some point in the past. Billy the Kid (Frdal Yildiz.) Lola's very butch boyfriend who longs for the normality he thinks he would have if Lola had a sex change, and Murat (Baki Davrak,) Lola's young brother, born after Iola was cast out of his family.
Lola is murdered after contacting Murat. his body found floating in a river. Billy befriends Murat and tries to train him to be a gay man, a hustler, and eventually the two seek revenge on the German boys they blame for Lola's death. When one of Lola's drag partners reveals a secret from Lola's past. however, Murat realizes that not everything is what it seems, and perhaps the wrong
people were punished for the crime.
Ataman, an openly gay Turkish director, explained his motivation for setting his coming-of-age tale in the Turkish community of Berlin.
"The Turkish community in Germany
"thumbs up! a raucous new comedy!
a very funny movie! a satire with real bite!"
Roger Ebert, ROGER EBERT & THE MOVIES
"funny, colorful and campy!"
Mick LaSalle SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"funny and irreverent, sharp and exhilarating!"
Amy Taubin VILLAGE VOICE
"plenty of style, cheek and sass!" Marshall Fine, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
NATASHA LYONNE
CLEA DUVALL
RUPAUL CHARLES
and
I'm a
"hilarious!" Anne Marie O'Connor MADEMOISELLE
CATHY MORIARTY
Bun Cheerleader
A Comedy of sexual Disorientation
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obviously suffers from discrimination, cultural prejudice, aggression. et cetera," he said, "but at the same time, the same Turkish community is capable of inflicting the same pain on their own fellow human beings, such as homosexual Turks, Turkish women. et cetera."
"Every community does this, finds itself in hypocrisy, and I thought by doing this-----showing that the pain they are suffering from discrimination is the same pain they give to us gays--I
would catch the heterosexual Turkish society redhanded."
The film does that, and more. It is not an old-school gay film, where the sissy dies and the "man" goes on, fits in. Lola may die. but her drag queen friends do not. Billy may not find real, true love, but his friend Iskender does. And Ataman may not tell the au-
dience whether or not Murat lives happily ever after, but he does get justice for his dead brother.
The film is wonderful. It may not be the feel-good hit of the summer, but it is well worth the admission price. Davrak as Murat is sullen, quiet, yet full of life and vigor. Mukli's Lola shows a depth of emotion that causes the audience to exult and cry, and feel an almost physical shock at the revelation of his death.
Yildiz's Billy didn't seem as well fleshedout, but, let's face it, he wasn't there to be a particularly sympathetic character. He was an illustration of more subtle homophobia in the Turkish community, and he did that extremely well.
Iskender, Billy's best friend, was a gem. Played by Murat Yilmaz, he's a clenched fist of anger, whose tenderness comes out at the strangest times, in the oddest ways. giving the film a charming counterpoint to the basic unhappiness of the main storyline.
The movie is in Turkish and German with English subtitles. This is your caveat: if you don't like subtitles, wait for the dubbed version to come out on video, if they ever release a dubbed version. The dialogue is not intricate enough to be difficult to read.
PICTURE THIS! ENTERTAINMENT
Lola and Billy the Kid
though, and it always adds to a film to be able to hear the tone and inflection in an actor's voice. It gets lost in dubbing, and that's a shame.
Unlike another German gay film. Taxi Zum Klo, this movie is not particularly explicit in its sex. Taxi showed everything. whether or not we wanted to see it, and it wasn't simulated. In Lola, however, everything genital goes on out of sight, and it goes on between more attractive people. It
Show Me Love
adds an air of romanticism that often gets shattered in the violence of homoand xenophobia rampant in the movie.
To sum up, if you get a chance to see the movic, do so. No excuses. This is Kutlug Ataman's third film, and if the other two are as good as this one, it's only a matter of time before Hollywood lures him in and he starts making crap films with twitty happy endings and insipid pop soundtracks, so enjoy him now while he's gritty, real, and heartfelt.
The Cinematheque in Cleveland will be showing Lola and Billy the Kid Thursday, August 17 at 7 pm, and Sunday, August 20 at 9:35 pm. They will also be playing the Swedish film Show Me Love Thursday, August 10 at 7 pm, and Sunday. August 12 at 9:30 pm.
Show Me Love, directed by Lukas Moodysson, is the tale of unhappy Agnes. in love with popular, if confused, Elin. The coming-of-age story, set in the small town of Amal, has been aptly described as a training film for baby dykes.
The film has become a hit in Sweden. under its original title Fucking Amal. It is really heartwarming, balancing the darkness of Lola quite well.