"Neredesin Firuze" or "Where are you, Firuze ?" is perhaps one of the best movies of 2004, not only for the Turkish cinema industry but considering the world cinema as well. A slight resemblance to the famous musical "Chicago" might be not an exaggeration too
A perfectly written screenplay by Levent Kazak and a careful and colorful direction of Ezel Akay makes you stick to your couch until the film ends. Many laughters as well as some eye drops will guide you into an incredibly colored atmosphere with carefully chosen songs, singers, clothes and and performances. Almost one fourth of the Turkish performance actors and actresses take place in some part of the movie too.
The soundtrack is considerably well done. There's one obstacle for it to become a world legend that it carries too much local indigrients that I'm not sure an English ( or any other foreign language ) translation might not be as successful.
I must admit, Haluk Bilginer is at his peak performance in creating a music producer with many abilities except music producing. He is one of the best actors Turkish cinema industry ever met, with long years of experience in British theatres as far as I know. Demet Akbag is at her usual , Ozcan Deniz with perhaps the weakest link covers his actor presence with his magical voice and romantic songs. Ata Demirer is another surprise in the movie. He is a man with many faces and does a great job to entertain us all. Cem Ozer, like Ata Demirer is a talk show man, but I think he is a real actor with observing eyes.
One other surprise is the director Ezel Akay ( he calls himself Ezop ), which couldn't stop himself to take a part in the movie too. As a hit man, he's the sound only that we don't see the face, but who knows, he's something special.
The movie is about the people who seek their chances in music industry with no backgrounds but only a blind courage to make a record. The failures and short successes, the correlation between the mafia and the small people takes us to a totally different world of dreams. The costume designs and sets are amazing, so are the graphical presentations throughout the movie. There's a lot of effort and artful elements put in the movie that, you won't regret you see it at least once. ( I watched it three times already ).
As I watched the DVD version which is also prepared successfully ( with DTS ), I advise all to watch it and have a seriously good time and real entertainment. I too rate it as a 9 out of 10.
Thanks to everyone involved and thanks to Ezel Akay for the joy he brings. I hope this movie will find a way to show itself to world audience, and get what it really deserve.
