Chiko
This is the story of Isa, who grows up in a Hamburg suburb. It might be one of the world's richest cities but every beast has its belly and here, in the very underbelly, Chiko lives in a world where violence, staking and keeping a claim, and drug taking are the norm. Where down is not an option, Chiko is determined to rise to the top, whatever and whomever it costs.
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- Cast：
- Denis Moschitto , Volkan Özcan , Moritz Bleibtreu , Fahri Yardım , Reyhan Sahin , Lilay Huser , Philipp Baltus
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Reviews
I love this movie so much
Too much of everything
A brilliant film that helped define a genre
While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.
It never occurred to me that this film could be compared to classic gangster movies. To me, this film is about one thing and one thing only: true friendship. Chiko's friendship with a worthless piece of trash is more important to him than money, love, family and even his own life. IMHO, every other aspect of the film is there just to provide a setting for this one point. It's not a masterpiece by any means, but at least it's original.Regarding the immigrant stereotypes: I missed the first 5-10 minutes of the film, so maybe there was something there, but for most of the film I didn't even know they weren't German. Regarding the similarity to gangster films: The description of the 'good life' takes only 1-2 minutes and is necessary, so that we see what Chiko is giving up. All the other incidents are there simply to show us just how big a screw-up his friend is.Maybe you didn't notice, but Chiko even forgave his friend for stabbing him. After the initial surprise, he wasn't mad at him, he felt sorry for him.
The first scenes of the movie are pretty authentic, but later everything gets a bit affected. Unfortunately the movie is made for the topic to high glossy. Especially the language doesn't match with the Hamburg "ASSI-DIGGA" Slang. Moritz Bleibtreu is like in "Free Rainer" disappointing and hasn't got his brilliance like in "Im Juli". Denis Moschitto acts for the figure Chiko to intelligent. Over all it is a well worth seeing movie with good dialogs and a good alternation to the Hollywood movies. I would rate the movie with a 6.8 with a few more "DIGGA" it would have been a 7. The first scenes of the movie are pretty authentic, but later everything gets a bit affected. Unfortunately the movie is made for the topic to high glossy. Especially the language doesn't match with the Hamburg "ASSI-DIGGA" Slang. Moritz Bleibtreu is like in "Free Rainer" disappointing and hasn't got his brilliance like in "Im Juli". Denis Moschitto acts for the figure Chiko to intelligent. Over all it is a well worth seeing movie with good dialogs and a good alternation to the Hollywood movies. I would rate the movie with a 6.8 with a few more "DIGGA" it would have been a 7.
The performances are very good, as is each scene taken by itself. The story is completely predictable, including the end, which I also found frankly unbelievable. The whole hodge-podge of conflicted feelings about ethic identity reminded me of "Once Were Warriors," which was about a violent Maori community in New Zealand. At least that movie acknowledged that the male craziness had a partial source in poverty and racism (without excusing it). Chiko doesn't admit much of anything about Germany - the early parts of the film are a kind of "rebels without a cause." At least for me, steeped in the race relations of English-speaking countries plus France, this film self-pathologized Turkish-German males and sensationalized their emotions in a way I didn't find very insightful. But on the level of production and acting, it was at least an 8.
Although it is the first movie of Özgür Yıldırım as a director, it reflects the desires and dreams of young people who have nothing to lose in their lives very well. Chiko reminds me Tony Montana, an emigrant and trying to be the leader of narcotic ring. Chiko, in the middle of 2 nationality, German & Turkey, shows all characteristic of both cultures. Director shows emotional and drastic scenes basically with small camera tricks like the style of another Turkish director grow up in Germany,Faith Akın. He leads and guides the other young Turkish directors on the way of showing the life style of young and unemployed people got bored of regular daily living and always looking for an extraordinary lifetime. I think it is worth to be watched. I assure that you will feel their expectations from harsh life very closely.