Cibrâil [The Visitor] *** (2011, Sinan Hancili, Engin Sert, Martina Hesse) – Classic Movie Review 12,834

Tor Iben’s 2011 German film Cibrâil [The Visitor] is sweet, simple and straightforward, and familiar, but told freshly with old-style fades and zoom shots, plus new-style intense close-ups of faces and bodies, and fragrant views of Berlin. 

Writer/ director Tor Iben’s 2011 German film Cibrâil [The Visitor] is sweet, simple and straightforward, and familiar, but told freshly with old-style fades and zoom shots, plus new-style intense close-ups of faces and bodies, and fragrant views of Berlin, some well known and others much less famous.

Sinan Hancili stars as fit, marathon-running young policeman Cibrâil, who is living apparently reasonably happily with his art gallerist girlfriend Christine (Martina Hesse) in Berlin, though their love making is quite boring, along with their life style.

Despite his Turkish background and having a humble police patrol job with a crappy partner, Cibrâil seems well integrated into Berlin society. He looks comfortable and satisfied, but there are odd little signs that he is not. Well, for a start, he seems to spend much more time going out for a run, training for a marathon, than being with his rather uptight girlfriend. But things are about to change, dramatically and quite radically.

Then one day his girlfriend’s gay cousin Marco (Engin Sert) comes to stay with them from Rome where he’s a DJ. And Cibrâil’s life turns upside down.

As played by offbeat charmers Sinan Hancili and Engin Sert, the two men seem quickly made for each other, peas in a pod, so you feel just ever so slightly sorry for the female in a gay male romantic movie. Martina Hesse plays her chilly and unforgiving, so we don’t feel sorry for her character very long. On the other hand, Hancili and Sert play their roles quietly, sympathetically and enigmatically, so we are on their side early on. They are good guys, with much dignity. Cibrâil is so nice he even meets a total stranger at the airport!

It is soon apparent that Marco has to come to Berlin for a bit of fun, so he seems unreliable. He’s a club DJ, probably a good time boy. But Marco is fascinated when he spots Cibrâil having a good time in the park. The two men go running together, and then get together, but Marco pushes Cibrâil away, maybe feeling guilty about his cousin Christine, and not wanting to be a relationship breaker. Cibrâil gets up in the night to pursue Marco, and of course Christine gets up and finds Cibrâil trying to kiss Marco.

Oh what tangled webs we weave!

All in all, Cibrâil [The Visitor] is entertaining and refreshing, quite cool. It is attractively quirky. Tor Iben follows his own path, seemingly fascinated by a tall metal sculpture of two men in the middle of a river and sausages on a barbecue grill. The film runs only 70 minutes, and you really wish there were another 20 minutes of it.

Release: April 28, 2011.

Runtime: 70 minutes.

Tor Iben was born in 1959 in Hagen, Germany, and is also known for The Passenger (2012), The Year I Lost My Mind [Jahr des Tigers] (2017), Orpheus’ Song (2019), Where Are You Going, Habibi? (2015) and Das Phallometer (2013).

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,834

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