As the German-born son of Turkish parents, Fatih Akin is understandably fascinated by the chasm between cultures and the fates of those who are brave enough to consider — to borrow the title of his 2005 documentary about Istanbul’s music scene — crossing the bridge. An ensemble drama that netted Akin a screenwriting prize from Cannes last year, The Edge of Heaven takes place in Turkey and Germany, charting the fortunes of characters who rarely experience a smooth passage between the two. Unfortunately, Akin arranges their stories all too smoothly, and the overwritten, Babel-like tangle of plotlines ultimately chokes off The Edge of Heaven’s oxygen supply.

Akin’s latest also has little of the rude energy of its predecessor, Head-On. Most of the people here are mild-mannered types. That’s especially true of Nejat (Baki Davrak), a bookworm whose life is thrown into upheaval when the relationship between his cantankerous Turkish émigré father and a prostitute ends tragically. A similarly ill-fated romance in a parallel plotline prompts a German woman (Hanna Schygulla) to come to Turkey to carry out the wishes of her late daughter.

Though The Edge of Heaven possesses many moments of sincerity and sensitivity, the way that Akin positions these characters around on his chessboard makes them seem like mere devices in service of political points. The only question that arises out of all this is whether the characters will discover how they are connected, Akin being too busy building bridges to give them a real destination.

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