The 46th annual Atlanta Film Festival takes place from 4/21/22-5/1/22, featuring a wide array of films, documentaries, shorts, music videos, and more. Today, we’re going to be breaking down one of the festival’s narrative features, Breakwater. If you missed the in-person screening, fret not. Breakwater is available to view virtually.
I like complicated stories. A simple story is good every once in awhile, don’t get me wrong, but there is so much gray area in real life. Nothing is ever as cut-and-dry or black-and-white as it seems, and what we have in Breakwater (written and directed by Cem Demirer) is one of those messy tales that makes you feel conflicted about who to root for.
That’s what makes this look at the grimy lifestyle of being a fisherman on a Turkish island special. It finds that sweet spot in between complicated characters and an effective story that has you asking yourself, “what the hell would I do in that situation?” Demirer’s effective use of silence in pacing the film (fair warning – I call it ‘smoldering’ for a reason…it does move slowly) gives you ample time to ponder each revelatory scene. And, it allows for the sound of the sea to drive home the hollow sounds of confusion, anger, and despair.
Courtesy of the Atlanta Film Festival’s film guide:
Aslan, a young insecure fisherman who lives on a Turkish island, finds a valuable lobster cave while diving. Knowing this treasure will bring him wealth and the prestige that he has never had in his society, he decides to keep it a secret from his cousin and best friend Yilmaz until he can properly harvest the lobsters by himself. By not sharing the secret, Yilmaz’s growing suspicion conjures a series of paranoid obsessions that thrust him into a downward spiral.
Breakwater is well-acted all around, but Baris Yilmaz Gunduz particularly crushed it as Yilmaz, stealing scenes with icy cold stares, and allowing the undertow of sadness to gradually pull him down as the film progresses. The tension between he and Aslan (Alihan Kaya) is palpable as Yilmaz begins to unravel the plot as it happens around him. Gunduz is phenomenal in a powerful scene in which Yilmaz is absolutely roasting Aslan, showing how much the anger, the feeling of betrayal, is boiling over.
But, it’s hard to feel too bad Yilmaz, which is the interesting thing about this movie. You don’t really want to root for him…it’s not like he’s the nicest guy, and yet, he’s clearly going through a lot, and now he’s discovered that his own family is keeping secrets from him. Then, there’s poor Aslan – they convinced this poor man that rubbing honey all over his head would cure his baldness. He’s a punching bag for his father, for the douchebag Instagram influencer Atom, and even Yilmaz himself. You can certainly see why Aslan would be so resentful to the world, and how he could feel justified in keeping this treasure for himself. But, still – is it right? Is that how you treat people? Breakwater implores such questions, and ultimately, as we see with Yilmaz, it lands on “we are who we are.” If I’m deploying our resident film critic, Brandon Vick’s, #VicksFlicks scale, I’m giving Breakwater a 3.5/5.
Also, I wrote this down in my notes, but couldn’t find a better place to work it in here, so I’ll just share it straight up: “okay, but the food in this movie looks so damn good!”
Check out the trailer and head to the Atlanta Film Festival’s film guide to stream Breakwater and to check out other options in their virtual catalog!
HAPPENING TODAY AT #ATLFF'22 — The Narrative Feature "Breakwater". Join us at Dad's Garage at 3:30 PM to watch.
— Atlanta Film Festival (@atlantafilmfest) April 24, 2022
Use Coupon Code LOCALS22 to save on admission!
For tickets, click here https://t.co/ZJCtWioyUB. #empoweringourfilmcommunity pic.twitter.com/yFuVQNsspW
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD, #BeBetter, and ‘Minds right, asses tight.’ “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, Yankee Candle, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
Check out the SoBros Shop. Become a Patron. Give us money for no reason. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Watch on YouTube.
