Simmer for 15 Minutes (Kısık Ateşte 15 Dakika)

Simmer for 15 Minutes (Kısık Ateşte 15 Dakika)

Movie · 2006 · 13 people

Haluk Özenç wrote the screenplay for Kısık Ateşte 15 Dakika ("Simmer for 15 Minutes"), a Turkish comedy-drama directed by Neco Çelik. Made by Med Yapım, it opened on May 19, 2006 via UIP. The whole story unfolds at Le Chic, an elegant French restaurant in central Istanbul, between 9:00 and 9:15 p.m., weaving together the lives of owners, staff and customers.

The restaurant's famous co-owner Kader Sayar (Eyşan Özhim) reluctantly grants young director Fazıl (Özkan Uğur) a fifteen-minute meeting at nine. He wants her to star in his own film and has strapped dynamite to his body to force it. At the next tables, people unaware of the bomb are busy with their own troubles: Kerem (Haktan Pak) looks for a way to tell his wife Pelin (Janset) he wants a divorce, while Güngör (Ata Demirer) and his manager Muhtar (Haluk Bilginer) seek a way to confess his love to the vocalist Yasemin (Aysun Kayacı). Kader has also hired Resul (Metin Akpınar), a blind sculptor who works in sugar and ice. The cast includes Cezmi Baskın (Chef Marcel), Erhan Yazıcıoğlu, Ali Sunal and Barış Kıralioğlu.

The producers are Oğuz Eruzun and Mehmet N. Karaca, the cinematographer is Markus Ziegler, and the music is by Jingle House and Ömer Ahunbay.

DirectorNeco Çelik
Production companyMed Yapım
Simmer for 15 Minutes (Kısık Ateşte 15 Dakika) Simmer for 15 Minutes (Kısık Ateşte 15 Dakika) Simmer for 15 Minutes (Kısık Ateşte 15 Dakika)

Reactions

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Cast

Also in the cast: Erhan Yazıcıoğlu, Eyşan Özhim (Kader Sayar), Haktan Pak (Kerem)

Through different eyes

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

Simmer for 15 Minutes makes its boldest choice in its structure: everything takes place in a French restaurant called Le Chic between 9:00 and 9:15 p.m. That tight time frame pushes Haluk Özenç's script to weave a web of small, interlocking stories: a young director with dynamite strapped to his body, a husband looking for a way to announce a divorce, Güngör hoping to confess his love to a singer. The idea is brilliant, but so many stories leave too little room for each character; some tables are there simply to fill the room. Neco Çelik keeps the place lively, and names such as Metin Akpınar and Haluk Bilginer make their scenes their own. Still, the film wavers between comedy and suspense, and its shifts of tone are rough.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

A director who straps dynamite to his body to force a fifteen-minute meeting with a famous woman: on paper, a superb thriller idea. Knowing the clock is ticking gives the scenes a nice edge. But the film often leaves the bomb in the background and drifts into long conversations about love and divorce at the next tables. While I'm waiting for the tension to build, the film goes for comedy instead.

Yeşilçam Nostalgic A viewer raised on the classics, looking for warm storytelling and strong acting.

Seeing Metin Akpınar as a blind sculptor who creates works in sugar and ice is this film's most graceful surprise. It is a pleasure to watch one of the great masters of comedy in such an unusual role. The gathering of actors from different generations, Haluk Bilginer, Cezmi Baskın and Ata Demirer among them, in one restaurant is a delight too. Yet among so many characters, a story that truly tugs at the heart is missing; the film dazzles the eye but rarely touches the soul.

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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