Biyograficim
Eşrefpaşalılar

Eşrefpaşalılar

Movie · 2010 · 14 people

Hüdaverdi Yavuz made his feature debut with Eşrefpaşalılar (2010), a Turkish blend of comedy and drama that takes to the big screen a world he had already explored on television in Şehnaz Tango and Hayat Apartmanı: that of the city's lower middle class. Its basis is a stage play by actor Burak Tarık, drawn from his own life, which Tiyatro ANSE had performed with success in many Turkish cities and in European countries including Germany.

The title refers to the people of the Eşrefpaşa district of İzmir, notorious for their rough ways and bad habits. In the story, a community that moved to Istanbul but never gave up its old way of life sees things change once a new religious teacher is appointed to the neighborhood mosque. Burak Tarık keeps one of the leading roles, as on stage, while the rest of the cast differs from the play. Sinan Albayrak, Turgay Tanülkü, Deniz Özpınar and Ali Yaylı appear alongside Hüseyin Soysalan and Sermin Hürmeriç.

The film opened with no promotional campaign and drew 218,246 viewers in its first three days. Over a 23-week run it was seen by 486,833 people in total.

DirectorHüdaverdi Yavuz

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Cast

Turgay Tanülkü Turgay Tanülkü Actor · 73 years old Davut Sinan Albayrak Sinan Albayrak Actor · 53 years old Hodja Burak Tarık Hüseyin Soysalan Hüseyin Soysalan Actor · born 1959 Tayyar Sermin Hürmeriç Deniz Özpınar Savas Bayindir Ali Yaylı Serkan Öztürk Ömer Pekin Firat Pasayigit Ozan Uygun Çetin Yeltekin Ömer Karanlık

Titles sharing this cast

Through different eyes

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film looks at a rarely told side of internal migration: a community that moved from İzmir to Istanbul but brought its old habits along. Building the neighborhood as a small world living by its own rules, with change starting when a new religious teacher arrives, shows how religion and neighborhood ties still act as regulators in city life. Hüdaverdi Yavuz's lower-middle-class world, familiar from his television work, is vivid here too. My reservation: a premise that labels the people of a real district as rough and badly behaved stands on ground that can easily slide into stereotype.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humor and heart.

The idea is a nice one: a neighborhood changing for the better, people looking out for each other. There is plenty of comedy too. But the characters are drawn as rough people with bad habits, so the language and behavior may not suit young children. It is better watched with teenagers, with an adult in the room.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Bringing to the screen Burak Tarık's play, drawn from his own life and long performed on stage, holds a trap as well as an advantage. The advantage is the sturdiness of dialogue and types tested in front of audiences; the trap is the risk that theatrical rhythm turns static on screen. As the first feature by a director coming from television comedy, the film succeeds in building its crowd scenes and neighborhood texture, but at times it resembles the episode-by-episode dramaturgy of a TV series. Reaching close to half a million admissions with no promotional campaign points to word-of-mouth interest, which suggests the story struck a genuine chord with audiences.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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