Instant Favorite.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Zenne Dancer" (Turkey 2012) A controversial film in it's homeland, this is a dramatization of the real-life "honor killing" of an Istanbul student by his family after they discovered he was gay. The tragedy centers around a trio of unlikely friends: Can (an openly gay Zenne Dancer (male belly dancer mixed with drag queen) who is in hiding to avoid Military Service to his country; Ahmet (aforementioned student, born to an eastern and very conservative family, studying in Istanbul and coming to terms with his Truth); and Daniel (a German photo-journalist in Istanbul without much knowledge about Turkish values and lifestyle). My biggest critique is that the film is a bit disjointed in it's storytelling and thus a challenge to follow....but it eventually does an excellent job of developing each of these three very different characters. Each has a different background and therefore a different outlook on life. Daniel's Western sensibilites eventually lead him to encourage Can and Ahmet to make some very dangerous choices...leaving him with the weight of guilt in the aftermath. Perhaps the most telling exchange in the film occurs between Daniel and Ahmet (after they have fallen in love) -- Daniel: Why can't you be honest and tell the truth to your parents? Honesty is the easiest. Ahmet: (crying) You don't understand. Honesty will kill me. Given our current climate in the US of an increasingly powerful polictical arm of an extreme form of Fundamentalist Christianity -- we should take heed and learn a lesson from our Brothers in the East.

What a gem of a movie. It touches you on so many points. Obviously, a majority of the film is about the internal storms of gays living in a society as intolerant as Turkey has become. The hypocrisy is, however, how open the Turkish Society was to gay inclinations and even encouraged them until one hundred years ago. Zenne (or Kocek) is a very old Turkish word and they were male dancers accompanying the acrobats during celebrations.But the movie does not go into those details anyway. Actually, I don't even classify Zenne as a gay movie. It's a very human movie. Has a rather slow rhythm, considering the genre, but builds up progressively and you just can not help but feel with the characters. Their turmoils, their emotions, their struggles and their passion.And then there is the music, and the photography. In a way everything about this movie somehow fits together. Well done team for a really good movie. Well spent two hours.

Zenne, M.Caner Alper and Mehmat Binay's debut movie was crowned with five awards at the country's foremost film festival Golden Orange Festival in Antalia, Turkey: •SIYAD Best Film (Association of Turkish Filmmakers) •Best First Film •Best Cinematography •Best Support Female Actor •Best Support Male Actor Zenne is inspired by the true story of Ahmet Yildiz, known as a victim of the first Turkish gay honor murder. The fact that Yildiz was killed by his own father, who hasn't been brought to trial since then, is shocking enough to make this movie very interesting. According to the trailer, movie tells the story of "an unlikely trio". In the first part of the film you are being introduced to those three "friends": Can – a free-minded person who is trying to avoid military service (which is obligatory in Turkey) and dances in nightclub as Zenne (the word in colloquial Turkish means male belly dancer) Daniel – German photographer trying to run away from his own troubled past Ahmet – An university student in Istanbul, born and raised in very traditional family in South-Eastern Turkey As their friendship develops, viewer is slowly but surely drawn into turbulent story of homophobia in Turkey, which culminates with the recruiting procedures for homosexuals in Turkish Army. Acting is excellent. It is unbelievable (if not a scandal) that Erkan Avci (Ahmet) is awarded Best Support Male Actor although he is acting the main character role. Besides him, Kerem Can (Can), Tilbe Saran (Sevgi) and Unal Silver (Yilmaz) also did amazing job. There are a couple of dance scenes, which brings Can's inner world to viewer. Those scenes are well blended into movie, usually using parallel editing technique. It is all matched perfectly with Demir Demirkan's dance music. Not to forget Paolo Poti, an Italian composer, who wrote the dramatic score. Technical side of the movie is really superior. Colors and sound mixing are at such level, one wouldn't expect from the Turkish movie. At the end I would like to say that Zenne is a movie I would strongly recommend. Although it describes Turkish society, it also goes far beyond, questioning generic values such as family, pride, tradition… It will definitely leave strong impact on viewers all around the world.

Inspired by the true story of Ahmet YILDIZ, who was murdered for being gay at the age 26 by his own father in 2008, Zenne, which picked up five at the latest Golden Orange Film Festival, is claimed to be a bold film because it tells the story of "an unlikely trio" who are Can (Kerem CAN)an exuberant,confident and stylish male dancer, Ahmet, a university student who was born to a South-Eastern Kurdish parents and Daniel, a German photographer who has recently taken up orientalism after his troubled stint in Afghanistan. As a cinema-goer I have always approached Turkish award-winners with caution. Whenever a bold, minimal movie with scanty dialog and a bold subtext is made, it seems to get awards. I have been disillusioned with award-winners so many times that I hesitated to go to this movie for a moment. Let me tell you that Zenne is not a bold movie at all. When I saw the trailer I thought I would see a shocking movie which really tells you a story about what a gay must be going through every day.Instead, I saw a watered down version of a non-credible story which looks merely forced. In the beginning of the movie we see the characters Can and Ahmet fighting. Before you actually realize the two are friends you see a German photographer blending with them.Without much of a background, Daniel and Ahmet falls in love and yes you need wide eyes to actually know that they are gay. Despite the accolades bestowed upon the movie, whenever the viewer feels the movie is losing the whole effect, the makers of this movie just try to save themselves by showing some visually bold male dancing sequences. The acting does not save it either. The parents of Ahmet look no more than histrionic and overly theatrical. Even if the mother of Can(Tilbe Saran) looks credible as a forlorn mother the subtext of the movie-putting all the blame of homophobia on mothers (families) is sheer blasphemy. A cross-dressing gay's life is not supposed to be easier just because he's got a more understanding, more liberal mother just as it's not supposed to be easier if he's living in Germany. Gay-bashing still takes place in many parts of the world including Germany. You can Google multiple references to a 1999 study that placed suicide attempts among homosexuals at 18 percent - four times the rate of heterosexual youths in Germany. According to an article published on the Economist magazine and referenced in the official website of the movie Mehmet Binay, who co-directed "Zenne", says he was astonished that Zenne was allowed to compete, let alone to win the award for best first film. Zenne takes it for granted that homosexuality is an inborn, unchangeable part of some people and claims to show that those people suffer from that the fact that some heterosexual people believe that homosexuality is a choice but it does not really succeed in convincing you about that. Fake,one-dimensional and weak characters, wooden and absurdly stagy acting,forced scenes (imagine the corny scene in which Can's mother runs after the car in tears) dancing sequences looking visually stunning on their own but which holistically look disjointed and disconnected, an unlikely friendship which actually looks expeditedly told and non-credible,easily noticeable goofs ( as in Ahmet's photo shoot for the military while he is all hirsute vs. his ensuing efforts to epilate his body hair to make himself more credible as a gay for the military medical check) turn this movie into a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists. 15 January 2012