Dangerous Crossings: The Edge of Heaven

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ANYONE WHO WALKED OUT into the sunshine after seeing Fatih Akin's 2004 feature "Head-On," shaken by the story but exhilarated by the fact of this terrifically assured German-born Turkish filmmaker's arrival on the scene, will treat the release of his fifth feature, "The Edge of Heaven," a red-letter day for film.

And the movie, screening exactly once this weekend at AFI Silver, doesn't disappoint.

Moving away from the grim romanticism of the bloody "Head-On," "The Edge of Heaven" takes a cooler look at life in the Turkish diaspora as it toggles among countries, pitting the old world and its values against the dubious delights of New Europe.

The story follows two Germans and four Turks whose destinies eventually — and largely tragically — intertwine under the constraints of love, duty, guilt, rage and loneliness.

Unlike films that forge synthetic bonds among its characters, these souls' swirling passage through Istanbul and Trebzon, Hamburg and Bremen is an organic confluence that speaks more to the worlds they are caught between than to directorial meddling.

As a bonus for cinephiles not familiar with Akin, be it known that the film features music by the quixotically moving singer-songwriter Andre Bird and a typically ferocious performance by Fassbinder veteran Hanna Shygulla.

» AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; Fri., 7 p.m.; 301-495-6700. (Silver Spring)

Photo courtesy Strand Releasing