The winner of the Best Film and Best Director prizes at the European Film Awards, Head On is an aptly titled, adrenaline rush of a movie. Cahit (Birol Unel) is a directionless janitor whose only interest seems to be in getting rightly messed up on a daily basis. Living a fairly depressing existence of boozy, drug-addled nights and hungover days, nothing much seems to going his way. After he's sent to a clinic in an effort to curb his lifestyle, he meets Sibel (Sibel Kekilli), a headstrong, sexually confident young woman who has rejected the basic tenants of her Muslim faith. Seeing Cahit as an easy ticket towards legitimising her status in Germany, she proposes that they get married. A reluctant Cahit accepts her proposal - Sibel's methods of convincing can, at best, be described as manipulative - and sets out to meet her family to convince them of her honourable intentions.
The premise may not be a particularly original one - two people who have rejected their lives and tradition in an effort to find themselves - but Head On is a notable excursion thanks to the humane fashion which writer-director Fatih Akin approaches his characters' predicaments. Never dogmatic nor simplistic, he allows their contradictions to shine through, refusing to sacrifice their complexities and neurosis for an easy to digest pay off. The atmosphere may indicate a desolate helplessness but thanks to Akin's skill and the gritty, realistic performances, Head On's uncompromising attitude has to be admired.
