1/2
Germany 2015
Opening October 22, 2015
Directed by: Christof Wahl
Writing credits: Moritz Netenjakob, Roger Schmelzer
Principle actors: Christian Ulmen, Aylin Tezel, Axel Stein, Samuel Finzi, Dar Salim, Nora Tschirmer, Inez Bjørg, Vladimir Burlakov, Mehmet Bozdogan
Daniel is a softy product of the hippies of 1968: nice, polite, and respectful of others. While on vacation in Turkey he falls for a Turkish girl: Aylin. By some miracle she also likes him. In order to cement the relationship, Daniel thinks he must become, what he imagines is, her ideal of the “real” man: muscular, single-minded, unrefined, a macho who can pee the longest. Back in Germany (where they are surprisingly from the same hometown of Cologne), Daniel meets Aylin’s brother Cem. Of course! Cem is the perfect person to give him lessons in becoming the real masculine man. He buys a new wardrobe, goes to Turkish clubs, laughs about Greek jokes, flits with Aylin’s cousins, and goes to soccer games. Although very time-consuming, he begins to like this new image of himself, while Aylin decides that this is not the Daniel that she knew.
This is based on a best-selling autobiographical novel of the same name by Moritz Netenjakob, who is married to Hülya Doğan-Netenjakob of Turkish origin. It touches all the clichés of masculinity and male-female-relationships, always in a humorous manner, always accompanied by excellent acting. The moral of the story is to love someone as he/she is. I hope I’m not giving away too much, when I say that Cem really isn’t all that masculine either. Christian Ulmen grew up in Hamburg and was a successful radio and TV moderator in Hamburg, London and Berlin before turning to acting. ()