'The Edge of Heaven'

Near the beginning of Fatih Akin’s captivating “The Edge of Heaven,” a lonely widower (Tuncel Kurtiz) trolls Bremen, Germany's red-light district before settling on a middle-aged prostitute called Jessie (Nursel Köse). Kurtiz's Ali is Turkish but raised his now-grown son in Germany. Jessie, whose real name is Yeter, has a college-aged daughter back home in Istanbul to whom she sends money for school. Both are alone and alienated from their children. After learning that Yeter is Turkish, Ali proposes an arrangement he thinks will suit them -- he'll pay her what she makes at the brothel if she'll come live with him.

By Carina Chocano

May 30, 2008