I was quite fond of “Head-On,” German-Turkish director Fatih Akin’s brutal 2004 ode to nihilism.
Now I find myself fond of Akin’s newest feature, the softer “The Edge of Heaven,” in which the lives of six people (two Turkish, the others German) crisscross in unexpected and sometimes deadly ways.
Front and center is a young woman, Ayten, a political activist pursued by the police. Hiding out in Hamburg, she meets – and almost instantly beds – Lotte, a middle-class student who lives with her mother.
(It must be noted that the mom, Susanne, is portrayed by revered Fassbinder actress Hanna Schygulla.)
Also entering into the fray is a German lit professor hoping to find and help Ayten, whose hooker mom was killed by his father.
All too often, films about interconnected lives stumble under the weight of coincidences. Not “The Edge of Heaven.” Akin, who also scripted, is too savvy to let that happen.
In Turkish, German and English, with subtitles.
Running time: 116 minutes. Not rated (violence, sexuality). At the Film Forum, Houston Street, west of Sixth Avenue.