''The Magician'' ( tr, Hokkabaz) is a 2006 Turkish

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

, directed by

Cem Yılmaz Cem Yılmaz (, born 23 April 1973) is a Turkish actor, stand-up comedian, musician, filmmaker, screen writer, and cartoonist. He is best known for his films '' G.O.R.A.'' (2004), '' A.R.O.G'' (2008) and '' Yahşi Batı'' (2010), and has won tw ...

and Ali Taner Baltacı, about a magician who tours around Turkey with his father and best friend so that he can make enough money for laser eye surgery. The film, which was released on , was short-listed for Turkey's official entry for the

Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

at the

80th Academy Awards The 80th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2007. The award ceremony took place on February 24, 2008, at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During t ...

but lost out to ''

Takva ''Takva: A Man's Fear of God'' ( tr, Takva) is a 2006 Turkish language film directed by Özer Kızıltan. It was a Turkish and German co-production backed by Corazón International. The film was Turkey's official submission for the Academy Awa ...

''.

Production

The film was shot on location in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

and Eceabat,

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

Plot

Iskender is a juggler, but to everyone besides himself and his childhood friend, Maradona, he is actually a magician. The two friends undertake a great deal of risk by including Sait in their tour program while being forced to escape Istanbul. Moreover, Father Sait had stopped appreciating Iskender years ago. While the tour brings them much closer, it also results in a magnificent falling-out. Iskender, Maradona, and Sait keep coming back together and falling out with their fellow traveler, Fatma.

Cast

as ''İskender Tünaydın'' *

Mazhar Alanson Mahmut Mazhar Alanson (born February 13, 1950) is a Turkish musician, guitarist, member of the popular Turkish pop music band MFÖ, and an actor. Early life He was born on February 13, 1950, to a family of musicians in Ankara, Turkey, wher ...

as ''Sait Tünaydın'' * Özlem Tekin as ''Fatma Nur Gaye Türksönmez'' *Tuna Orhan as ''Maradona'' - Orhan Direk

Release

The film opened in 378 screens across Turkey on at number one in the Turkish box office chart with an opening weekend gross of $1,462,608 and was later released across a number of European territories.

Reception

Box Office

The film was number one at the Turkish box office for two weeks running and has made a total worldwide gross of $9,146,764.

Reviews

Todd Brown, writing for ''

Twitch Film Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

'', notes that this film, ''looks to be a beautifully shot piece of work'', and that, ''while it was impossible not to see an awful lot of

Mel Brooks Mel Brooks (born Melvin James Kaminsky; June 28, 1926) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. He began h ...

influence on he writer-director's previous film

G.O.R.A. ''G.O.R.A.: A Space Movie'' ( tr, G.O.R.A.: Bir Uzay Filmi) is a 2004 Turkish science-fiction comedy film, directed by Ömer Faruk Sorak, which stars Cem Yılmaz as a used carpet salesman who is abducted by aliens from the planet G.O.R.A. The fi ...

this one sees Yilmaz in a much more restrained mode that I think plays a fair bit better.''

Awards

*2007 Ankara International Film Festival Most Promising Actor: Tuna Orhan (Won) *2007

Brussels International Independent Film Festival The Brussels Independent Film Festival, previously known as the Brussels International Independent Film Festival, or le Festival International du Film Indépendant de Bruxelles, has taken place since 1974. It originally focused on Super 8 films ...

Best Actor (International Competition): Cem Yilmaz (Won) *2007

Istanbul International Film Festival The Istanbul Film Festival ( tr, İstanbul Film Festivali) is the first and oldest international film festival in Turkey, organised by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts. It is held every year in April in movie theaters in Istanbul, Tu ...

Golden Tulip: Cem Yilmaz & Ali Taner Baltaci (Nominated) *2007 Sadri Alışık Cinema and Theater Award for Best Actor: Cem Yilmaz (Nominated)

External links

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magician, The 2006 films 2000s Turkish-language films 2006 comedy-drama films Films about magic and magicians Films set in Turkey Turkish comedy-drama films Films scored by Ozan Çolakoğlu