Head-On

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Head-On

R,

2004,

2h 2m,

Drama

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Watchlist

Watchlist

90%

82 Reviews

Tomatometer

93%

10,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

90%

Tomatometer

82 Reviews

93%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Cahit (Birol Ünel) stumbles from bar to bar in Hamburg, Germany, lost in an alcoholic haze. The boozy Turkish immigrant crashes his car into a wall, which lands him in a mental institution. There he meets the suicidal Sibel (Sibel Kekilli). She convinces him to marry her, because otherwise her family will arrange her marriage to a Turkish man of their choosing. She proposes a deal to Cahit: She will cook and clean for him, and they can see other people. Thus begins their strange romance.

Critics Consensus

A raw, provocative drama about star-crossed love and the lives of immigrants caught between the traditional and modern.

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Sukhdev Sandhu

Daily Telegraph (UK)

Apr 1, 2019

A punky, noisy romance full of life and emotion and ideas that captures the moment in the style of contemporary classics such as My Beautiful Laundrette and Trainspotting.

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David Ansen

Newsweek

Mar 13, 2018

That this marriage of convenience between two cultural misfits will eventually lead to love may sound like a contrivance, but that's not at all the way it plays. Akin's raw, powerful, multileveled movie takes us places we never expected to go.

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Nick Schager

Lessons of Darkness

Apr 10, 2006

B

Ultimately more provocative than insightful.

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Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Feb 26, 2021

7/10

One of the few films by the German Turkish director Fatih Akin that gets me hooked from start to finish. [Full review in Spanish]

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Nigel Floyd

The List

Apr 23, 2019

4/5

From its stunning opening sequence to its merciless fatalistic conclusion, this is directed with extraordinary confidence and maturity by the 32-year-old Fatih Akin.

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Brian Miller

Seattle Weekly

Feb 19, 2019

The storytelling rhythms can be a little jarring, almost like early Spike Lee, but this seems true to the disconnect of Cahit's and Sibel's lives.

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Kylo W

Feb 13, 2017

Two despicably selfish characters, yet it is their selfishness that reminds us so often of ourselves...

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Fatih Akin

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Birol Ünel

Cahit Tomruk

Sibel Kekilli

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Synopsis

Cahit (Birol Ünel) stumbles from bar to bar in Hamburg, Germany, lost in an alcoholic haze. The boozy Turkish immigrant crashes his car into a wall, which lands him in a mental institution. There he meets the suicidal Sibel (Sibel Kekilli). She convinces him to marry her, because otherwise her family will arrange her marriage to a Turkish man of their choosing. She proposes a deal to Cahit: She will cook and clean for him, and they can see other people. Thus begins their strange romance.

Director: Fatih Akin
Producer: Stefan Schubert, Ralph Schwingel
Screenwriter: Fatih Akin
Distributor: Strand Releasing
Production Co: Bavaria Film International
Rating: R (Drug Content|Brutal Violence|Pervasive Language|Strong Graphic Sexuality)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 12, 2004, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 12, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA): $367.8K
Runtime: 2h 2m

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