My Only Sunshine

My Only Sunshine, 2008

Turkey, 35mm, Color, 121’
Cast: Elit İşcan, Erdal Beşikçioğlu, Levend Yılmaz, Banu Fotocan, Handan Karaadam

This fifth feature by Reha Erdem tells the growing pains of Hayat, a 14-year-old girl who lives with her father, who owns a little fishing boat, and her bedridden grandfather. Hayat lives in a wooden shack on the mouth of a river running into the dangerously dark yet beautiful Bosphorus in Istanbul. Her father fishes on these dark waters in his small boat to make a living while also engaging in certain unlawful ventures. Hayat was born into this difficult, harsh, and unrelenting world but she clings to life. She does not lose her courage, endurance, and hope in the face of the injustices of the world.

“My Only Sunshine is a fine film that shows the point Erdem’s cinema has reached. It can be as harsh as Jean Luc Goddard’s cinema or can take on a minimalist cast bringing it closer to Theo Angelopoulos for instance. Silence prevails throughout the film; whenever silence is hard put Orhan Gencebay takes over and gives away Hayat’s soul and inner turmoil through his music. Erdem uses sound in a manner that is professional, impressive, and unprecedented in Turkish cinema. Even after the film is over and days go by the sounds sticks in one’s memory, be it ferry, sea, or arabesk song.” – Janet Barış

“This time Erdem turns up with a film of an originality that is seldom encountered not just in Turkish but in world cinema as well. And if one does not warm to this film greatly, it is because he/she has either grown tired of his many tricks or not understood them. For what Reha Erdem does here is give a masterclass in the question ‘How can Turkey’s social structure be used in a revolutionary film model througha postmodern cinematic language?’” – Kerem Akça