Fatih Akin's previous film Head-On covered a lot of the same ground and themes as his latest effort The Edge Of Heaven: Germany, Turkey, displacement, alienation, culture clashes and violence. But where that earlier film was a high-octane gem, The Edge Of Heaven is more contrived and slightly less than the sum of its convoluted parts. For all that, however, it remains wholly intriguing viewing.

The action - of which there is an inordinate amount - oscillates between Bremen, Hamburg and Istanbul. It also see-saws a little in time, a "trick" which has recently become something of a cliche in independent cinema. Among the many protagonists are sleazy Turkish widower Ali (Tuncel Kurtiz), prostitute Yeter (Nursel Kose), and Ali's mild-mannered and bookish son Nejat (Baki Davrak). Ali asks Yeter to live with him, leading to a tragic accident that sees an appalled Nejat move from Germany to Istanbul, where he starts running a bookstore. In a complementary and related story, young political activist Ayten (Nurgul Yesilcay) flees the Turkish police for Germany, where she gets involved with idealistic student Lotte (Patrycia Ziolkowska). And then there's Lotte's relatively straight-laced mother Susanne (a small but memorable role for the estimable veteran Hanna Schygulla).

At around this point, the coincidences increase exponentially, and the plot doesn't so much thicken as stretch uncomfortably like a dining boa constrictor. Yet somehow there's enough genuine pathos to keep us emotionally engaged, coupled with the presence and charisma of actors like Baki Davrak and Nurgul Yesilcay. The strikingly colourful and photogenic Turkish locations don't hurt either. The Edge Of Heaven is mildly flawed, but it's definitely worth seeing, and Fatih Akin is a director well worth watching.