Biyografi Dünyası
20 Minutes (20 Dakika)

20 Minutes (20 Dakika) (translated)

TV Series · 2013 · 18 people

Ay Yapım made the Turkish action drama 20 Dakika (20 Minutes), which started on Star TV on January 1, 2013, and ended on June 27, 2013, after 25 episodes of 90 minutes. The script was taken from the American film The Next Three Days and adapted by Kerem Deren and Pınar Bulut.

Ali and Melek Halaskar are happily married and live in peace with their children. One day the police storm in and take Melek (Tuba Büyüküstün), a pastry cook, to prison, accused of a murder and of injuring an important politician's son. Her husband Ali (İlker Aksum) tries to prove her innocence and get her out of jail, while the investigator played by Fırat Çelik gathers evidence to reach the truth. The central question is whether Melek really committed the crime.

Serdar Işık directed the first five episodes; when Kerem Deren said the script was not reaching the screen as intended, Ali Bilgin took over. Toygar Işıklı wrote the theme and all the music. Announced as a 30-episode project, it ended at episode 25. It was sold to 30 countries in its first two months.

DirectorSerdar Işık
Production companyAy Yapım
NetworkStar TV

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Through different eyes

AI-assisted editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives. They are not reader reviews; those are below.

Action & Thriller Fan Puts pace, tension and set pieces first; little patience for slow drama.

20 Dakika has a killer setup: a husband trying to get the wife he believes innocent out of prison, and an investigator gathering the evidence. The tension starts early, and the question of whether Melek really did it pulls you from one episode to the next. İlker Aksum carries the story as a desperate but stubborn husband. The only problem is that the episodes sometimes run longer than they need to; the desperate husband's stubbornness keeps the story on its feet even in those slack stretches.

Series Binger A series devotee tracking character arcs, cast chemistry and season pacing.

20 Dakika is a single season of 25 episodes, and that short life is both a strength and a weakness. A strength, because the story is never stretched: once Ali and Melek's happy marriage collapses overnight, the chemistry between İlker Aksum and Tuba Büyüküstün hooks you from the first episodes. The investigator played by Fırat Çelik adds a second line of tension. The weakness is that a show announced at 30 episodes ended at 25, and the final stretch feels a little rushed. So it is best taken as a short, intense watch, without piling too much expectation on the finale.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

20 Dakika adapts the American film The Next Three Days into a series, which creates a tough structural problem: spreading a feature film's suspense across 25 long episodes. Kerem Deren and Pınar Bulut's adaptation tries to keep the central question alive, namely whether Melek is guilty, but as the episodes get filled, the tension often slackens into padding. The switch from Serdar Işık to Ali Bilgin as director after the first five episodes, and the writer's remark that the script was not reaching the screen as intended, point to a difficult production. Toygar Işıklı's music is the most solid element, holding the atmosphere together consistently. The result is a flawed but intriguing experiment.

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