Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows Shop News Showtimes

Head-On

Play trailer Poster for Head-On R Released Feb 12, 2004 2h 2m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
91% Tomatometer 87 Reviews 93% Popcornmeter 10,000+ Ratings
Cahit (Birol Ünel) stumbles from bar to bar in Hamburg, Germany, lost in an alcoholic haze. The boozy Turkish immigrant crashes his car into a wall, which lands him in a mental institution. There he meets the suicidal Sibel (Sibel Kekilli). She convinces him to marry her, because otherwise her family will arrange her marriage to a Turkish man of their choosing. She proposes a deal to Cahit: She will cook and clean for him and they can see other people. Thus begins their strange romance.
Head-On

What to Know

Critics Consensus

A raw, provocative drama about star-crossed love and the lives of immigrants caught between the traditional and modern.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (87) Critics Reviews
Sukhdev Sandhu Daily Telegraph (UK) A punky, noisy romance full of life and emotion and ideas that captures the moment in the style of contemporary classics such as My Beautiful Laundrette and Trainspotting. Apr 1, 2019 Full Review David Ansen Newsweek That this marriage of convenience between two cultural misfits will eventually lead to love may sound like a contrivance, but that's not at all the way it plays. Akin's raw, powerful, multileveled movie takes us places we never expected to go. Mar 13, 2018 Full Review Nick Schager Lessons of Darkness Ultimately more provocative than insightful. Rated: B Apr 10, 2006 Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia One of the few films by the German Turkish director Fatih Akin that gets me hooked from start to finish. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 7/10 Feb 26, 2021 Full Review Nigel Floyd The List From its stunning opening sequence to its merciless fatalistic conclusion, this is directed with extraordinary confidence and maturity by the 32-year-old Fatih Akin. Rated: 4/5 Apr 23, 2019 Full Review Brian Miller Seattle Weekly The storytelling rhythms can be a little jarring, almost like early Spike Lee, but this seems true to the disconnect of Cahit's and Sibel's lives. Feb 19, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (749) audience reviews
William L First prison I've ever seen with wall-to-wall carpeting. Head-On is an example of a particularly well-trodden Hollywood premise (a mismatched couple in a marriage of convenience legitimately falling in love) and making it a legitimate drama - contemporary social conflicts, humor and barbs in equal measure, and protagonists with flaws that highlight a sense of realism without sacrificing their likability. What makes the film work most of all is the time dedicated to allowing the characters to grow as a direct result of their exposure to one another, transitioning from a slapdash engagement to a genuinely complementary dynamic that sees the two fluttering between longing, perplexity, affection, and melancholy. There's a degree of legitimate suffering in the film that makes the audience actually invested in the fate of the two characters without feeling exploitative; when the pair are left in a hotel room conversing in short, pained sentences, writer-director Fatih Akin earns that moment. Really solid performances from Birol Ünel as Cahit and Sibel Kekilli as Sibel. Obligatory "HEAD-ON: APPLY DIRECTLY TO THE FOREHEAD." (3.5/5) Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/22 Full Review Audience Member Wow, that was quite a movie. I'm not sure what to say so I'll give a quick rundown. The cinematography is awesome, so is the acting. The storytelling on the other hand, can be a little difficult to follow, though its not so bad as to ruin the movie, and in a way gels with the chaos of the characters lives. 90/100 Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member The characters are so self destructive that it's hard to watch at times, but it's rewarding. The kind of movie that sits with you a while. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/12/23 Full Review Audience Member Two despicably selfish characters, yet it is their selfishness that reminds us so often of ourselves... Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review Audience Member Lovely characters in despair, lives full of contrasts. Pace changing from frenetic to slow, just like the incredible music, in order to give you an even better idea of the clash between cultures. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member The greatest film of all time. Not for everyone. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Head-On

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Cahit (Birol Ünel) stumbles from bar to bar in Hamburg, Germany, lost in an alcoholic haze. The boozy Turkish immigrant crashes his car into a wall, which lands him in a mental institution. There he meets the suicidal Sibel (Sibel Kekilli). She convinces him to marry her, because otherwise her family will arrange her marriage to a Turkish man of their choosing. She proposes a deal to Cahit: She will cook and clean for him and they can see other people. Thus begins their strange romance.
Director
Fatih Akin
Producer
Stefan Schubert, Ralph Schwingel
Screenwriter
Fatih Akin
Distributor
Strand Releasing
Production Co
Bavaria Film International
Rating
R (Drug Content|Brutal Violence|Pervasive Language|Strong Graphic Sexuality)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Feb 12, 2004, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 12, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA)
$367.8K
Runtime
2h 2m