I Am Not Him (2013) Poster

(2013)

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6/10
Interesting plot, worked out proficiently in the first half. That plot dies halfway, however, and thus missed several potentially interesting developments
JvH488 February 2014
I saw this film at the Rotterdam film festival (IFFR) 2014. In a nutshell: too many statistically impossible coincidences, and too slow developments overall. The plot is interesting, and is worked out proficiently in the first half, where the pace is bearable while there is some steady progress all along.

In the second half, I felt that there were too many coincidences, most of them unnecessary and also not used as effectively as could have been. To avoid spoilers, I refrain from providing examples. Nevertheless, not boring overall, and several unexpected events make it a moderately good watch. Everyone's personal motives, why they do what they do, are not evident and certainly not compelling, so I don't think this film qualifies as a drama. The main character does not grow in his role that has befallen him, and thus missed many potential dramatic avenues that could have made this film much more interesting.
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8/10
Exceptional examination of identity
Greekguy26 March 2014
Warning: Spoilers
A number of films address the concept of doppelgangers or doubles, but few do it this well. Ercan Kesal and Maryam Zaree perform an amazing dance, each offering up very believable dualities of self even while they illustrate how we all touch lives with others through a careful presentation of someone we wish we could be.

The film begins with the portrait of an emptied (rather than empty)and lonely man who seizes the opportunity to change - first, he changes his circumstances, and then he changes, on a literal level, who he is. Accompanying him on his metamorphosis is an equally unfulfilled woman.

This is, however, not a straightforward love story, and all does not end well or happily. What do we want, if not a happily ever after ending for our own stories? Sometimes, all we want is to find a skin that fits us better than the one we are wearing right now.

I found this film intensely moving and poetic. At times, it seemed to carry with it some great unspoken human truth - in particular,the first prison cell scene was, for me, as insightful as, say, the Ferris Wheel scene in The Third Man. The director, Tayfun Pirselimoglu, is also an author, screenwriter and painter. I hope that, with all this going on, he does not drift away from the cinema, because he makes very good films.
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10/10
A masterpiece whichever way you look at it.
Vivekmaru4519 September 2022
The best two hours I've ever spent watching a movie. This was my first modern Turkish feature film I've seen. "Modern" being the age of smartphones and social media.

The movie is a story of circumstance and opportunity. The main protagonist is the center of the film and his acting in my belief deserves an award, along with the director. The film follows a man who is apparently fed up with his routine and mundane existence. An opportunity presents him when his co-worker, a married woman whose husband is serving a seven year jail term for forgery, invites him to her house for a meal.

Soon these two are caught up in a bizarre relationship - if you can call it a relationship. The rest of the movie deals with all the subsequent events that follow from this relationship.

Plot: Ercan Kesal plays the role of Nihat, a man works in a kitchen in Istanbul. He is invited by Ayse(Maryam Zaree) a recent employee who works as a dishwasher to her house for a meal. There he spies Ayse's marriage and is amazed at the similarity between himself and her husband. Nihat soon moves in with Ayse and soon starts to adopt a strange behavior of copying Ayse's husband who is serving seven years in jail for forgery.

A very good movie. A sublime viewing for me. This movie can be classified as a situational drama film and not a thriller.
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