THE UNFORGETTABLE DIRECTOR OF LOVE STORIES

THE UNFORGETTABLE DIRECTOR OF LOVE STORIES
(AŞK FİLMLERİNİN UNUTULMAZ YÖNETMENİ), 1990
Türkiye | 35mm, Color, 106’ | Turkish
Director: Yavuz Turgul
Cast: Şener Şen, Pıtırcık Akkerman, Aytaç Yörükaslan, Yavuzer Çetinkaya

Aşk Filmlerinin Unutulmaz Yönetmeni (The Unforgettable Director of Love Stories) is a tragicomic look at erstwhile director stereotypes in Turkish cinema and at changing tastes in movies. It stars Şener Şen, who gives a memorable performance as Haşmet Asilkan, a director of love stories, who wants to make a film with “social content”. In addition to dwelling on the problems of the movie industry of its day, the film also realistically reveals the hardships involved in filmmaking. Yavuz Turgul who was also the writer for such much-loved films as Çiçek Abbas and Züğürt Ağa, also criticizes those who deny their own backgrounds and are casually dismissive of Yeşilçam as a whole. Aşk Filmlerinin Unutulmaz Yönetmeni is a film that manages to be simultaneously enjoyable, gripping, and thought-provoking. It is also one of the most fundamental examples of the metacinema genre in Turkey.