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Head-On
Strand Releasing


9.0

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 21 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: Not Rated

Starring Birol Ünel, Sibel Kekilli, Catrin Striebeck, Güven Kirac, Meltem Cumbul, Zarah McKenzie, Stefan Gebelhoff, and Francesco Fiannaca

A marriage of convenience in Hamburg between two troubled Turks changes both their lives in this fine, gritty, contemporary love story. Director Fatih Akin dives deep into Turkish culture and explores the slippery slope of identity and cultural pride faced by Turks who either move to or are born in Germany. (Strand Releasing)

GENRE(S):	Drama \| Foreign
WRITTEN BY:	Fatih Akin
DIRECTED BY:	Fatih Akin
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: September 13, 2005 Theatrical: January 21, 2005
RUNNING TIME:	121 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Germany / Turkey
LANGUAGE(S):	German / Turkish / English (with English subtitles)

Original title "Gegen die Wand"; Also known as "Head On"; Golden Berlin Bear and FIPRESCI Prize, 2004 Berlin International Film Festival

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Impeccably made, uncompromising in its implacable vision of the deranging power of love, sex and controlled substances, this savage and staggering film knows how to take our breath away.

100

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Not about crashing into walls or crashing into other people. It's about crashing into yourself and living to tell the tale.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

In its breathlessly claustrophobic way the movie is vital and passionate, and lit with a lyric beauty that washes over love scenes and violent acts alike.

Newsweek David Ansen

Akin's raw, powerful, multileveled movie takes us places we never expected to go.

New York Post Debra Birnbaum

An intoxicating, heartbreaking Turkish-German drama that's already won a slew of awards from international film festivals.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

The love that heals and the love that kills are one and the same in the exhilarating Head-On, Fatih Akin's overgrown dead-end-kid romance for live-wire adults.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

It's a brutally convincing movie about two hell-bent young Turkish-German lovers dancing on the edge of destruction in a Hamburg underworld of drugs and casual sex. Yet it's also compassionate and even tender.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

No matter what is going on in the story, these star-crossed lovers are always fascinating to watch.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Has its share of surprises, especially in the performances of its two main players.

Dallas Observer Melissa Levine

A solid, well-crafted drama, with a tight script, sharp editing, and strong performances by the leads. Beware, however: This is no comedy.

The New Yorker Anthony Lane

This is not just pliable filmmaking; it is an exercise in worldliness, in a feel for the cracks and warps of circumstance, which is all the more startling when you learn that the director is thirty-one.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Fatih Akin is a filmmaker to be reckoned with. His characters grow and change in a stunning film that pulses with life.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

Vital and affecting romantic drama.

Variety Eddie Cockrell

Fine, gritty, contempo love story.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

A romantic comedy with jagged edges, Fatih Akin's exhilarating Head-On paves the road to love through miles of prickly thatch.

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Despite the tears, the blood and the booze, Head-On is a hopeful film.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

But for all the film's griminess and doom, bad behavior and bad luck, it's hope that engines Head-On.

Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan

Intense, well-acted love story.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Violent and sexy and funny and sad, Head-On is a big collision that doubles as a bizarre love story.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The movie is well and fearlessly acted, and the writer-director (Fatih Akin) is determined to follow her story to a logical and believable conclusion, rather than letting everyone off the hook with a conventional ending.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

What ensues is a love story ringed by barbed wire and etched in blood with the jagged neck of a broken beer bottle.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Winner of the top prize at the last Berlin Film Festival, the film is sporadically powerful, sensitively acted and full of music, used with imagination and flair.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Superbly acted.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Despite all its roiling melodrama, Head-On has its moments of sharply observed humor.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

Sexy and intoxicating.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Burns with sincerity and serious intent.

Slate David Edelstein

Head-On doesn't sound like a lot of fun, but it keeps you on edge, laughing nervously, appalled and, against all odds, entertained.

Chicago Reader Chris Fujiwara

Director Faith Akin has skill and panache, and the lead actors are likable. But the film's high energy can't compensate for the muddled conception.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Fatih Akin's surprisingly grisly feature spills more blood than both of Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" films combined, which is strange when you consider that it's a love story.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Head-On loses its merry mojo once events turn irrevocable and the action switches from Hamburg to Istanbul.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Propelled by ferocious sex, nasty violence, and coy interludes of traditional Turkish love songs.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Unremittingly explosive, Head-On is not an easy film to watch. It is, however, a memorable one.

Empire David Parkinson

Ünel and the debuting Kekilli are as impressive as Akin’s atmospheric snapshots of Hamburg and Istanbul.

The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 21 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Frank O gave it a9:
This is a strange film but I love movies that are off-beat, off kilter a bit. Akin does a great job of creating sympathetic characters but I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. I like being the observer in this film, watching Cahit and Sibel learn to be with each other, with all its pluses and minuses. Not a film just for anyone.

Harkanwar A. gave it an8:
Excellent love-sex-hate drama.

Rod E. gave it a4:
Well made; great soundtrack; but about as interesting to watch as rotting meat.

Dieter A. gave it a10:
I saw this movie at Cornell. Audience applauded spontaneously the screen as the credits rolled. A bit strange, can't remember the last time this happened, but if you see the movie you will understand.

Michael K gave it a10:
Fatih Akin has made a film which seems to accurate reflect the pathos of Turkish-German immigrants in their quest for identity compounded with a fear of loss of self. Brilliant. Even better than "Short Sharp Shock." You will be riveted.

Paula W. gave it a10:
This starts out as a quirky "ethnic" romance when Sibel and Cahit meet cute in the hallway of a psychiatric hospital and go on to a highly unconventional marriage. That would be a good movie in itself, what with the contrast between the traditional Turkish musicians who appear in interludes along the Bosporus and the punk-flavored carousing of the main characters in Germany. But then the movie plunges into much deeper waters, and that is what makes it brilliant. Visually pleasing, with splendid acting all around. Highly recommended.

Uli gave it a10:
Simply one of the best films I have seen within the last 12 months! Check it out!

Head-On Strand Releasing

Head-On
Strand Releasing