Dealer
Director: Thomas Arslan
Writer: Thomas Arslan
Cast: Tamer Yigit, Idil Üner, Birol Ünel, Baki Davrak, Hussi Kutlucan
Seen on: 23.2.2026

Plot:
Can (Tamer Yigit) is a drug dealer. Having worked for Hakan (Hussi Kutlucan) for many years and having ascended the ranks, he is hoping to finally make the jump into the more legitimate side of Hakan’s business, for the sake of his wife Jale (Idil Üner) and their little daughter. But while Hakan dangles the possibility of running a bar in front of Can, police officer Erdal (Birol Ünel) – who knows Can from way back – hopes to get Can to testify against Hakan.

Dealer is a quiet, intimate and probably pretty realistic film far from Hollywood clichés that I found refreshing and well-made.

Dealer is just over 70 minutes long and manages to capture what to me – as a non-Turkish, non-German, non-drug dealing person – feels like a very complete and very accurate portrayal of what it means to be a drug dealing Turkish-German. And what is more, there is little sensationalizing and a whole lot empathy. We get where Can is coming from, even when he makes decisions that put him at risk.

Imagining this story as a Hollywood movie further underscores how grounded it actually is. It’s lack of great emotional gestures, for example, makes the film seem almost cold, clinical. But I thought that it makes the film even more harrowing. Because the great action of Hollywood movies removes things from reality. Here, we can very well imagine that the guy you see around might have that kind of a life with that kind of life-shattering consequences.

Arslan gets a lot of very natural performances from his actors, most of whom are not professional, I think. I am sure that it helped that he is Turkish-German himself and therefore has an understanding of the scene his film is set in. From what I gather, this film is one of a (loose) trilogy about young Turkish-Germans. I’m curious to check out the rest.

I was definitely taken with this film and with Can’s story. I wanted to shake him at times, but I also understood him and felt for him. And I was hoping for a better outcome for him than the (realistic) fate the movie dealt him. This all speaks for the movie.

Summarizing: well worth seeing.