A sequel to a movie you've probably never heard of, starring characters you couldn't care less about, and packed full of lame jokes that even tumbleweed would refuse to blow past, Vizontele Tuuba is Turkey's highest-grossing native blockbuster. Ever. Set in a small town in the 1980s, the story follows the arrival of a new library director (Altan Erkekli) and his crippled daughter Tuuba (Tuba Γnsal) in a small, rural town that's completely obsessed with the joy of television.
The original Vizontele was set in the mid-1970s as the arrival of television gripped the town ('Vizontele' is 'television' spelt backwards. Sort of). The sequel takes a different course, with the newly appointed library director arriving to discover that there's no library, no books, and no apparent need for anything other than television.
"UNFOCUSED SCRIPT"
Set against the backdrop of political upheaval prior to Turkey's military coup in September 1980, this anarchic farce is so highly strung it'll leave you feeling completely strung out. Racing through its unfocused script with scene after scene of eccentric village characters shouting at each other, it's like being invited to spend time in a whole community of village idiots.
The only focus in the film is the unintentionally creepy relationship between pretty but wheelchair-bound Tuuba and middle-aged goggle-box repairman Crazy Emin (writer-director Erdogan). Armed with a laugh that's a cross between a giggle and a hiccup, Emin's wild-eyed charm is more irritating than ingratiating and becomes a symbol of all that's wrong with this wannabe kooky drama.
Comedy is undoubtedly one of the most difficult genres to translate from country to country (the French thought Benny Hill was a comedy genius - go figure). So perhaps that explains why this asinine - but domestically successful - farce proves to be so torturously unfunny. Whatever the reason, Vizontele Tuuba delivers little delight. Turkish or otherwise.
In Turkish with English subtitles.