INNOCENCE

INNOCENCE (MASUMİYET), 1997

Turkey | Blu-Ray, Color, 105’ | Turkish

Cast: Derya Alabora, Haluk Bilginer, Güven Kıraç, Melis Tuna, Yalçın Çakmak, Ajlan Aktuğ

Yusuf, released from prison after having served a ten-year sentence, goes to Izmir to visit his sister. Facing past family troubles and having no other place to go, he settles down in a cheap, run-down hotel. Soon, his path crosses with that of a strange family. In Yusuf’s struggle to survive, Bekir, Ugur and their daughter, Cilem, are initially a glimpse of hope, which, later on, turns into a devastating destiny.

“Following his first feature film, Demirkubuz tells the story of a group of characters who are each ‘innocent’ in their own way in a corrupt world. Innocence is based on a story that Demirkubuz wrote during a severe illness... It’s a film about dingy and damp-smelling hotel rooms, people who drink soup for breakfast, TV addicts, freshly brewed tea, cheap ‘arabesque’ songs, poor man’s rakı tables, acceptance of one’s fate, those who fear life, the sense of ‘interior space’, and those who are not afraid of being defeated or doomed; it is a film about moths and flames. And what’s more, (even but for its characters) it feels as real as if it were happening down the street.”–Talip Ertürk