Gegen die Wand (Fatih Akin, 2004)

Head On starts as a romance of severely dysfunctional, suicidal characters, Turks attempting to break out from their cultural niche in modern-day Germany, who enter a marriage of mutual convenience, and then find that their dislocation from their feelings can't hold out against the enforced proximity to a kindred soul.
The leads, Birol Ünel and Sibel Kekilli, are so captivatingly impassioned that most of the story passes until it becomes apparent that Akin doesn't know how to finish his parable, except as the universal fallback of the auteur too proud to take advice, the open-ended denouement. It's a great shame, as there's so much vitality on show for most of their saga. Still, it's mature work, and should in no way prejudice anyone against such a potentially insightful artisan.

6/10