Sunday, August 16, 2015
Finding a home
Today's film has an unexpected turn to it.
Even when it has been seen before.
Hamam: Il Bagno Turco / Steam: The Turkish Bath (1997)
Part of the surprise is in the ending but mostly it is the process by which people begin to find their true nature and their happy home.
A young Italian architect/designer inherits a building in Istanbul. From his grandmother.
He goes to claim his inheritance, sell the property and get back to Rome where he has a joint practice with his wife.
Upon a arrival he finds an old heap of a place which turns out to be a closed up turkish bath.
Hence the title.
He becomes enamored of the place and decides to rehab it. Perhaps to stay.
This foils the plans of a developer, an evil woman with slitty eyes who sets out to block this all from happening. She wants her shopping mall.
While waiting for the slow process of inheritance to evolve, the young man finds a new family who have been the caretakers of the bath. The family has a young gay man.
Natural forces begin to overtake the situation and the two men fall in love.
The story goes on from there. Retribution. Horror. Love. Reconciliation and an ending that is not the one I wanted but one which will be quite OK if it has to be that way.
The quality of the transfer to DVD is not great. In the beginning there is a steamy hazy quality. Perhaps intentional? The director is Ferzan Ozpetek who has made a few arty gay themed films. A dependable artist. Meaning he knows how to give us beautiful men in a good solid story. Believable and true. The steamy look clears up on my disc. That is why I think he may be messing with us a bit.
