Im Juli (English: In July) is a 2000 German-Turkish-Hungarian Road Trip film directed by Fatih Akin, starring Moritz Bleibtreu and Christiane Paul.
Daniel Bannier is a young teacher in-spe, who in contrast to everyone else plans to stay in Hamburg for the summer. Juli, a girl at the flea-market, is in love with Daniel and sells him a Mayan ring with a sun on it, claiming that it is a lucky ring and that he will meet a girl with a sun, who is the one he is destined to be with (Juli has a sun tattoo). A short time later he meets the beautiful Melek (Idil Üner). She is wearing a shirt with a sun on it, so Daniel takes her out to dinner and they have a good time, but unfortunately she has to leave the next day. She mentioned that she is meeting someone under a particular bridge in Istanbul on Friday, so Daniel decides to travel to Istanbul to meet her. Meanwhile, the dejected Juli decides to hitchhike to wherever the first car she sees is going. That car just so happens to be Daniel...
This film provides examples of:
- Arc Symbol: The recurring sun symbol:
- The film opens with the solar eclipse of 1999, an event in which the sun and the moon cross paths.
- The Sun emblem on Daniel's ring.
- When Daniel first meets Melek she is wearing a T-shirt with a big sun symbol.
- Daniel crosses paths with Luna (Branka Katić), whose name means "moon", and suffers the consequences.
- Juli is the German name for July, a sunny month. She also has a sun tattoo on her lower back.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Hilariously subverted. Daniel, a physics teacher, does some calculations in the sand, drives the car off the ramp, and sails through the air... only to land in the middle of the river.
- Chekhov's Gun: The physics lesson in the film's opening. Later Daniel uses that piece of math for his car jump across the river. Unfortunately, his estimate in river distance was a bit off.
- Contrived Coincidence: Occurs a few times, for instance when Juli wants to set up a date by telling Daniel that he will meet a girl with a sun (like the one tattooed on her back), and then he meets Melek, who just happens to wear a T-shirt with a sun. And then when a dejected Juli decides to hitch a ride anywhere on the first car to pick her up to get away from Hamburg, and then the first car to stop is driven by Daniel.
- Creator Cameo: Director Fatih Akin appears as a Romanian border official.
- Credits Montage: The closing credits show stills of the actors alongside their names.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The entire plot is built on this trope."Dearest of my heart, I traveled thousands of miles. I crossed rivers, moved mountains. I suffered and endured torment. I resisted temptation and I followed the sun to stand before you and to say: I love you."
- Full Moon Silhouette: The Man in the Moon hallucination sequence shows a bus traveling in front of the full moon.
- How We Got Here: The film opens with a scene chronologically towards the end of the movie. Therein Daniel tells the story of how he ended up in that remote place to Isa, the man he hitches a ride from (Mehmet Kurtuluş).
- I Resemble That Remark!:Daniel: Sprechen Sie Deutsch?Waiter: Nein.
- The Man in the Moon: A female example. Daniel has a short hallucination sequence after drinking the drugged beverage served by Luna. In this sequence his bus travels across the night sky while the full moon shows Luna's face watching the bus passing by.
- Marriage of Convenience: Daniel and Juli claim to be married so that Daniel will be allowed with her into Romania (as his passport was stolen). The border official sees through it but lets him in anyway in exchange for a "marriage present". Luna's van.
- Meaningful Name: Melek is "Angel" in Turkish.
- Photo Montage/Travel Montage: The journey across Romania is portrayed entirely through still shots — not by choice, but because the Romanian government
denied their shooting permit. - Oblivious to Love: Despite all the romantic gestures Julia shows him throughout their trips, including the spooning scene at the hotel where only one bed was available, Daniel is still drawn to going to Istanbul to find the girl he thinks is the one, and fails to see that it's really Julia who was interested in him the whole time.
- Operation: Jealousy: While Juli politely declines Leo's interest in her, he asks if Daniel is the right guy who would fight for her. She responds that she wishes he would. This leads to Leo taking her to dance in the middle of the bar before he assaults Juli (while telling other patrons at the bar who are his friends to not interfere) in order to lure Daniel who is waiting outside, to save Juli. The act works, as not only does Daniel arrive to punch Leo into a nearby jukebox before leaving, Leo winks at Juli to let her know that his plan had worked. Juli gratefully smiles at him to gesture her thanks before Daniel leads her away.
- Poison Ring: Used by Luna to drug Daniel.
- Race for Your Love: The Movie.
- Ramp Jump: The film scores extra points for having the jump attempted by a physics teacher who was previously seen putting this exact problem on the blackboard as an exercise. He still fails, because he has only an estimate of the width of the river to go on.
- Road Trip Romance: Develops between Daniel and Juli.
- Slipping a Mickey: The drugged coke Daniel is being served by Luna.
- Stock Sound Effects: Popular sound clip of giggling kids used during the travel photo montage.
