Freaktana
A Major Disappointment
Odelecol
Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.
SanEat
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
dj-58
If there has ever been a movie with worse acting, I have not seen it. And I don't think it's possible. The only thing this "film" is good for is if you build some kind of drinking game around it: drunk people might be amused; sober people will be appalled. A high school student with an iPhone and untalented friends could have made a better movie. I watched it because of F. Murray Abraham's name. Which makes me think that F. Murray and I have something in common. We both have experiences in our past which make us cringe, They might, perhaps, have had a good script. It's actually not terrible. In the hands of a qualified director this might -- might -- have been a good film. So I can see how F. Murray or his agent could have read the script and given this a go, without any idea of how bad the other actors might be, or how badly directed the film would be. But I wouldn't have wanted to be that agent when F.Murray saw the finished project!!!
dla100
What I saw was a throwback to cliché-cluster flicks of decades ago, but the soundtrack puts it firmly in the eighties.It is thumpingly and enormously awful, as wretched and phony a film as could be conceived. Tittering harem ladies a'bathing, stern Turks delivering script bits from the 100 Most Popular Stock Lines for the genre. They might as well have gone beyond the scattered skin peeks to a fuller soft-core intention -- all pillow-plush and pleasures in the sultan's palace, because that's already the quality/ambiance/performance level of much of this thin 'n cheesy production.The producers may have scored the perfectly suited shooting location, but much else in the movie seems to be reaching for the furthest reaches of inauthenticity.Admissions: There is amusement, even delight, in encountering something so consummately lame, in wondering who could work on it and think for a moment this embarrassment should be taken seriously. I really did laugh out loud a few times at this painfully acted, double-dreadfully written, obliviously directed caricature. Maybe I WOULD view a portion of it again, preferably with someone else. "Look!...watch this! Watch!"And..I only made it through the early half. Turned away easily without even the tiniest rhinestone of regret. (A bug buzzing by in the living room could be diversion enough from this bungle.) Could be...could be that when it moved deeper into violence and intrigue, into dramatic seizures(!) of fate and steering of history, it took a turn toward something more engaging and more plausibly presented. Could happen...right?
mflatham
Fascinating story but except for F.Murray Abraham this movie had some of the worst acting I have ever seen. I have seen children in school plays put on more believable performances than Amber O'Shea and James Michael Gregary. With the lacking script and C movie performance (I thought at first it might be a porno film) it took me 3 days to watch. I was so intrigued with the story line I wanted to see the ending but again because of the scrip and acting I could only watch it in small doses. I'm hoping someone will take this wonderful tale and make a real "movie" about it. Probably watchable if you have allot of paperwork or crafts or something to take your mind off the performers and their flat delivery of poor lines.
Valen-10
A captivating, straight-from-the-heart historical drama,based on a true story. Features a beautiful film score (byWilliam Goldstein II) and authentic scenery (the movie was shoton location in Istanbul). The characters are well crafted andsensitively portrayed. Foremost among the acting performances, which are alloutstanding and convincing, is that of F. Murray Abraham(perhaps best known for his role as Salieri in Amadeus). Heportrays the old sultan Abdu'l-Hamid, who buys a Frenchschoolgirl for his harem and renames her 'Nakhshadil', unawareof the profound effect she will later have on his country. The French schoolgirl, Aimee Dubucq de Rivery, is played byactress Amber O'Shea in a down-to-earth manner that some viewersmay not appreciate; nevertheless, her portrayal of Aimee isendearing and plausible. The character of Aimee was not meant tobe portrayed as a larger-than-life heroine, but rather as aculturally-displaced spoiled brat who was forced to grow up andtake charge of her life in order to survive in the moreprimitive, oppressive Ottoman society. Maud Adams skillfully portrays Abdu'l-Hamid's jealous wife,Sineperver. James Michael Gregary stars as the handsome butnaive successor to the throne, Selim, who becomes romanticallyinvolved with Aimee yet fails to heed her warnings about theneed for political reforms and the elimination of the troublesome elite guard known as the Janissaries. Ron Dortchbrings to life the complex character of Tulip, a eunuch who isthe second most powerful official in the Ottoman Empire (afterthe Sultan). The interactions of these individuals take placeamidst Ottoman royal court intrigues as Western Europeaninfluences begin to have a major impact.
