DJ Ahmet: Movie Review

Cast: Arif Jakup, Agush Agushev, Dora Akan Zlatanova, Aksel Mehmet, Selpin Kerim
Director: Georgi Unkovski

A simple coming-of-age story writ into a larger narrative of unrequited love, DJ Ahmet follows teen Ahmet, whose family is broken following the death of his mother.

Unable to connect with his father and a protector of his now mute young brother, Ahmet is wrenched from school to care for the family flock - both the sheep and the youngster. Escaping through his music (when very limited wi-fi permits it), Ahmet is the region's technical expert.

But when he meets Aya, who's been brought back from Germany to marry an older man, he finds his world is opened up to the possibilities he may never be able to get again.

Definitively sweet and peppered with some moments of unexpected humour - a pink sheep and an inept owner of the broadcaster of the local prayers chief among them - DJ Ahmet weaves a very familiar tale in a very unfamiliar environment.

The push and pull of the dynamic between both Ahmet, his father, and also Aya,who also yearns to break away from her life and destiny, works exceptionally well in the gentle story as it unfolds. With a sensitively helmed camera from Unkovski, DJ Ahmet unfurls at a pace that's enjoyable but also frustratingly forgettable in parts.

There are moments which capture the hedonism and the frustration of youth and the connection that music brings - and while Jakup's restrained performance delivers what's necessary for the teen, the film's familiarity soon becomes both its strength and weakness.

But in transposing a story to a world never often glimpsed before, DJ Ahmet becomes a charmer of a film that proves not everything needs to be a large-scale piece of cinematic proportions.

DJ Ahmet is part of the NZIFF. For more, visit nziff.co.nz