In July

In July (Im Juli, 2000) is available to watch online on iFILM — a German road-trip comedy from director Fatih Akin, shot before his career turned toward the harder edges of Head-On. Hamburg physics teacher Daniel (Moritz Bleibtreu) buys a ring with an Aztec sun symbol from a street vendor named Juli, who promises it will lead him to the love of his life. He meets Melek the same afternoon and decides this counts as proof.

Daniel drives from Hamburg to Istanbul after Melek with no real plan. He gets robbed, stranded, arrested at a border crossing, and eventually loses his car and passport somewhere in the middle of Europe. Juli turns out to be travelling the same route — and she has known for a while that the ring was not pointing at Melek. Akin keeps the pace fast and light across Central and Eastern Europe, letting the mishaps pile up without slowing down. Stream In July (2000) online on iFILM.