Ray Pride

(Im Juli) A small, "Amelie"-like treat (which was produced around the same time as Jeunet's globe-straddling hit), Fatih Akin's "Im Juli" is a champion border-crosser, tossing "Run Lola Run"'s Moritz Bleibtreau into the heart of southwestern Europe in pursuit of fate. There are many crossed connections and contrivances as his meek naïf of a schoolteacher jumps all manner of boundaries, convinced he's meant to love a mysterious Turkish woman he's met once whose name means "Angel." Pursuing her to Istanbul, he finds himself in the company of Juli, the woman who's forced this fate upon him; he just doesn't get it yet. Christiane Paul has the most striking face of all the brunettes that litter Akin's mash note to hope, faith and fantasy; her eyes hold one of the truest and bluest gazes in recent movies. "Im Juli" may be the most polished German movie I've seen since Tom Tykwer's "Lola," masterful bubblegum that it is. "Im Juli" also has a propulsive, poppy song score, and a sweet, likably corny scene about someone discovering what it's like to get high, both amusing and lovely under a sky of night stars.

"In July" opens Friday at Facets for a week.

(2003-08-05)

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