The Crossing (2010 film)

Hürriyet Daily News reviewer Emrah Güler describes the film as, "a beautifully crafted story of a wounded soul and how the intersection of stories from his life with those of others lead to haunting revelation and redemption", and which, according to Today's Zaman reviewer Emine Yıldırım, "continues the prevalent notion in Turkish cinema in dealing with raw, dark and sullen emotions".

"The story takes place in İstanbul", which according to Yıldırım, is, "shown here in its gray winter colors and atmosphere", but, "We are never really shown exterior images of the city except for the intermittent shots of highway traffic, for this is more of an interior film", where most of the action takes place in, what Güler describes as, "an office out of Franz Kafka's imagination".

[7][8] "The film features stories of a handful of characters that at some point intersect with one another", which, "At first glance", according to Güler, "might give you the impression that it is a film in which the lives of the multiple characters intersect to a greater effect, exemplified by the recent films of Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu (Amores perros and Babel) or some of the Robert Altman classics, like Short Cuts", but "When boundaries are threatened, however, Kavşak is more the story of a lonely man who has put his life on hold indefinitely", and according to Yıldırım it is "lead actor, Güven Kıraç, steals the limelight".

But while Yıldırım commends the director for, "taking his time in this tight script", he admits some reservations, "about the secondary characters", which despite being, "used as a tool to explore the depths of vulnerability and human connection in the shadow of destitution", "are questionable", and, "not wholly convincing".

So when Güven tells of what happened in a teary monologue toward the end, the scene seems long and at best unnecessary, damaging the slowly built character development."