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The Edge of Heaven

By Mina Hochberg | amNewYork movie critic

3:14 PM EDT, May 22, 2008

As tiresome as movies about fatefully intertwined lives can be, "The Edge of Heaven" manages to stave off the more annoying trappings of this sub-genre by virtue of its understated poeticism. The movie is broken into three chapters during which a six-strong cast of German and Turkish characters meet. Their occasions for intertwining range from sex and love to death and activism. Ali, an old Turkish man living in Germany, invites a hooker, Yeter, to live with him full-time. When Yeter dies (which isn't a spoiler, since the chapter title announces it), Ali's son, Nejat, goes to Istanbul to track down Yeter's daughter, Ayten, who, unbeknownst to him, is actually a Turkish exile living in Germany.

It's less confusing than it sounds, and the storytelling is pared down just enough to mince the melodrama into digestible pieces. Taking place when Turkey is on the verge of joining the EU, "Edge of Heaven" outlines a faint political context insofar as it concerns the characters' senses of identity. The bonds between oneself, one's family and one's nationality are all sources of a sincere emotional quality that's gritty, somewhat sentimental, but definitely not mushy.

The Edge of Heaven. Written and directed by Fatih Akin. Starring Baki Davrak, Nurgul Yesilcay, Nursel Kose, Tuncel Kurtiz