Lizardman fourtwenty Kuma is a film that a conservative Turkish person might be very disturbed about, should they go into it expecting a happy Turkish family movie. Which is rather unlikely, as "Kuma" translates to "Second Wife".I won't go into details here but essentially this movie is a study on "fanatically traditional" Turkish family issues dealing with patriarchy, women's rights, sexuality, ... A critique if you will but a subtle one, grounded in authenticity as the director Umut Dağ probably draws from experiences within his own expanded family, and nuanced enough to still make the viewer see the characters as human beings after all. It is a deconstruction of the "bad Turkish immigrant" stereotype as well in that regard.What's really outstanding in this movie is the acting. Absolutely perfect cast with beautiful but fragile Begüm Akkaya as the title role Ayse. There's also Vedat Erincin from "Almanya - Willkommen in Deutschland" who played a completely different father figure role in that movie. Also, some people will remember the kid actor as the little boy from the "Tatort: Angezählt" episode where he rode a bike, sprayed a prostitute with gasoline and burned her. Muratahn Muslu also was in that episode and played a boxing pimp. Muslu transitions to a very different take on masculinity in "Kuma", once again proving that he is a great versatile actor.On a side note, the movie reminded my in a weird way of "Das weisse Band". It was also very likely inspired by the "Kuma" film from 1974.All in all a must-see if you are even vaguely interested in the issues surrounding "traditional" Turkish families.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Kuma" is a 90-minute movie from 3 years ago and it was written and directed by Umut Dag. He was 30 when he made this and it's his first feature and taking that into account, it's a pretty good achievement I have to say. It's an Austrian production and the producer team usually works with Michael Haneke on his films. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this film. It's well-written, well-directed and well-acted. And it has so many dramatic plots, such as polygamy, death, new love, homosexuality, jealousy, integration etc. I could go on for quite a while and pretty much all of these are elaborated on convincingly. A young woman marries in Turkey and moves to Vienna afterward to her new family. But things are not the way they seem in this case. This film offers a pretty accurate insight into Islam I believe. So it also has educational value. The only slight problem I had with it (even if that may just be personal perception) was that it takes a while to really get going and really have me interested in it. But when it did, I couldn't look away from the screen. Or maybe another criticism could be that as a whole, everything that happens may actually a bit too much and slightly unrealistic. And as the film does stay below the 90-minute mark, it also wasn't necessary to make it so full of serious events. But it's fine. This is still a really good film and I am curious about Dag's works in the next years. If he keeps that level or maybe even improves with age, he has everything to become one of the most significant filmmakers of his country, regardless of if you seem him as an Austrian or a Turk. Fine job he did here. Recommended.

Martin Pucher I rated this movie that high because it really gives an intimate view into a partial integrated Turkish family living in Vienna.For me such a movie is so precious because I have the feeling that it can help to get a better understanding of a foreign culture in a time of right wing gain of influence everywhere in Europe.I'm living in Vienna too and the amount of immigrants is on the rise and I often feel threaded by it myself.Such movies help to open the eyes that they are also no more but simply humans which helps to break up the abstract idea we have about strangers without any clue what or who they really are.Don't get me wrong: I'm not fond of the (in my eyes) medieval approach of the conservative Turkish-Islamic culture despite it is one of the most progressive in the Islamic world.On the other hand I'm a bit jealous of the family quality while it got nearly lost in our modern western culture.But one must keep in mind that their model is carried mostly on the shoulders of the female part of the family (like it was before in the Christian culture in the past).To get back: It opens a view into their live and encourages the understanding of their culture which is a very important contribution in our "I fear the unknown" world.

Jiyan H. Dogan One of the most important thing in a given film is acting. There is no doubt in that. And Kuma definitely nailed that. However, the story paste and the writing is as important as acting and Kuma was not that great in that. Given the powerful topic, the writer/s could have done a much better job. For the most part, it was really hard to tell between the time passages, whether it was a day, a month, or a year that passed. For that reason, it was hard to follow it. Also, you could easily guess what was going to happen next. For instance, the mother was in the surgery, but then the father does. How? Why? Nobody knows. I understand that it was for the purpose of raising a suspicion, but I doubt it was as successful. Again, the acting was superb! I was amazed by all the performance the two leading female characters put forth. For those who like dramas, I would suggest them to take a look at it. Although there are some flaws with the film, it is well worth seeing.