THE SMELL OF MONEY / PARANIN KOKUSU

The film is set in a down-at- heel suburb of Ankara where all the main characters live. Mehmet drives a cab for a living; Riza runs the teahouse; and Adnan is an out-of- work journalist. And then there are Mehmet’s Young Friends, a loyal band of local 10-12- year-olds. When Mehmet regales his friends with tales of the murky and unlawful dealings that some of his passengers are mixed up in, they install a camera in Mehmet’s cab and record the passengers. The recording of a businessman who turns up in town for a little philandering presents an opportunity for blackmail and the deal rewards them handsomely. A close relationship develops between Mehmet and Melek who lives with her partially blind six-year- old, daughter a floor up from Mehmet. One day a file is left behind in Mehmet’s cab which belongs to a mafia-deep state organization run by ‘Madam’. Mehmet and his friends are soon pursued by a bunch of Men in Shades.