Afloat (2024)

Direction: Aslihan Unaldi
Country: Turkey 

This well-crafted drama written and directed by debutant Aslihan Unaldi has its flaws but remains engaging. An intimate, unsettling look at Turkey's bourgeoisie, the film explores family dynamics with a script that provides just enough clarity to hold the viewer's interest.

The story centers on New York-based Zaynep (Nihan Aker), an aspiring documentarian, who arrives in a small coastal Turkish town to spend some family time with her divorced parents (Lila Gürmen and Serhat Ünaldi) and younger sister (Elit Iscan). She brings her protective American husband, Stephen (Oscar Pearce), with her. The confined spaces and limited privacy on the boat play a role here, enhancing tensions in a low-key chamber piece that, never really boiling, generates a subtle intrigue. 

The film seems compassionate to, and appreciative of, the people it chronicles, showing a somewhat vague if curious political side that characterizes contemporary Turkey. Much of the action unfolds naturally, steering clear of the melodrama that often dominates family narratives. Unaldi’s unobtrusive filmmaking style shows promise, and the female cast members deliver particularly compelling performances.

About Dry Grasses (2024)

Direction: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Country: Turkey

About Dry Grasses is the ninth feature film by acclaimed art-house Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, 2011; Winter Sleep, 2014), whose signature blend of languid yet observant storytelling has earned him cult status. In this mature and quasi-philosophical wintry chamber piece, Ceylon delves into the vain hopes, fixations, and frustrations of Samet (Deniz Celiloglu), a guileful middle-aged teacher yearning to escape the isolation, suffocation, and alienation caused by working in a remote eastern Anatolian village for four years. 

With an anguishing melancholy penetrating every frame, the director crafts a skillfully complex Chekhovian fresco that disconcerts by steering the narrative into unexpected directions. The topics of aloofness and vacillation of the soul expand, coexisting with fragments of entrenched politics, cynicism, betrayal, individualism, moral considerations, cold romanticism, and lost illusions. Some of them blur the lines between good and evil. 

Ceylan, who has an unerring knack for arresting imagery, opts for austere shots, capturing the vast and desolate snowy fields and pallid grey skies with profound intensity, increasing tension. The sensitive material and harsh environment find a perfect match in his hands, translating into a disturbing yet compelling portrait of egotistic utopia.

Recondite emotional stimuli surface intermittently with lucidity in each character, often without the need for words. Ceylan exposes subtle dark spots of the human soul in a quietly meditative study that reveals the intricate intelligence of its design. While his heavy cinema and stretched-out narratives may not appeal to everyone, About Dry Grasses denotes his continued evolution in terms of staging, elasticity, and tone.

Anatolian Leopard (2022)

Direction: Emre Kayis
Country: Turkey 

Anatolian Leopard is a resolute, cerebral and languid drama written and directed by Emre Kayis, who successfully captures the inward turmoil of a solitary zoo director struggling to find his place in a corrupted society. 

After more than two decades of hard work and dedication, the pensive director Fikret Ozturk (Ugur Polat) is confronted with the closure of the Turkey’s oldest zoo. In order to avoid that, and stop the privatization process, he fakes the escape of the indigenous Anatolian leopard, a symbol of the country and an endangered species. On that ground, he counts on the help of his loyal officer, Gamze (Ipek Türktan), whose dream is to be a flight attendant. 

Polat’s performance is believable and his facial expressions show all the frustration, debility and ennui in the face of the system’s machination. His character internalizes all these feelings with a sense of disconnection from everything. Fearing extinction himself, Fikret is fed up with posing for pretentious crooks and tycoons who soak up everything he built. 

Even not taking huge directing risks, Kayis does not hesitate to use a suitable composure in the shots, creating a genuinely entrancing tale of disappointment with a sense of tragic inevitability. The final result may seem austere for ordinary mortals, but the film will be gratifying for movie buffs who don’t get scared with the unrelenting bleakness (with subtle touches of humor) of an apt metaphor.

The Pigeon (2019)

Directions: Banu Sivaci
Country: Turkey

Debutant Turkish writer/director Banu Sivaci comes up with a quirky script in The Pigeon, a slow-paced art-house drama that aspires to be more than what really is. The story centers on Yusuf (Kemal Burak Alper), an unsociable young boy living in the slums of Adana, south of Turkey. He nurtures a longstanding obsession with pigeons to the point of sleeping, washing, and eating in the rooftop of his parents’ home. He inherited this passion from his late grandfather, something that his older brother, Halil (Ruhi Sari), was never able to understand.

Lacking any sort of enthusiasm apart from the birds, Yusuf starts working in a garage and, suddenly, ends up out of town as part of an exploited crew assigned for a one-week job. Panicking with the simple thought of leaving the pigeons without supervision, Yusuf takes a train back home. Penniless, he travels underneath a seat to remain out of the sight of the ticket controller. However, when he gets home, he gets disgusted with what he sees.

The tension keeps floating considerably along the way, but its peak is reached when a thug slashes Yusuf’s favorite pigeon, Maverdi, in retaliation for an incident occurred with his own carrier pigeon. Aimless, Yusuf fights to protect his dovecote. He can’t afford to lose the only thing that makes him happy and distracted from the stress and afflictions of the outside world. Not even a pretty local woman, with whom he occasionally dreams of, seems capable to make him go in a different direction.

Despite the simplistic vision and timid filmmaking process, Sivaci had the precious hand of Arda Yildiran, the director of photography, in the capture of attractive colors and in the purpose of giving the images a fine, sharp glow. Besides conveying both the purity and naivety of Yusuf’s personality by depicting his stronger affinity with birds and detachment from people, this bittersweet drama also makes us think about work and eke out a living. Still, I struggled to empathize and connect emotionally with the central character.

The Wild Pear Tree (2018)

Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Country: Turkey

Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan is revered for his immersive tales, sharp topical observation, critical voice, and insightful approach. He was the mastermind behind the gems Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) and Winter Sleep (2014). His new drama, The Wild Pear Tree, is not as strong as its predecessors, but effectively merges family complication and unemployment crisis in modern Turkey. It can also be pointed as a bitter reflection on loneliness and social/cultural alienation in an undermined society that offers no solutions for the youngsters.

Working under Ceylan's guidance for the first time, Dogu Demirkol is Sinan Karasu, a smart post-graduated man who aspires to be a writer. He returns to the rural village where he was born with the hopes of finding a job, a frustrating effort, and also trying to be financed by the local mayor to launch a book of personal memories. He finds nothing but unhappiness and disappointment everywhere, feelings that extend from family members to closest friends.

His father, Idris (Murat Cemcir), was a respected teacher before turning into an inveterate gambler who dreams about transforming the arid land where he lives into a green oasis. He just needs to dig a well and find water, a task he puts considerable time and effort into. Slowly, he destroys the household with debts and affliction, losing the trust of his wife, Asunan (Bennu Yildirimlar), who, helpless, confides her worries to her son.

Besides the family-centered bickering, the young man bumps into the beautiful Hatice (Hazar Ergüçlü), a downhearted childhood friend who gave up school and is about to get married in the interest of financial stability. But there are more encounters and long conversations, all of them tolerantly philosophical in tone. The one about art and preconception involves Suleyman (Serkan Keskin), an established writer who overreacts to Sinan's sarcasm. The one related to religion is pretty complex and puts him face to face with the tricky Imam Veysel (co-writer Akin Aksu) and his submissive yet purer apprentice Imam Nazmi (Öner Erkan). Not to mention the prepotent Ilhami (Kubilay Tunçer), a successful businessman who never studied, but reveals prejudice for the ones who did. Sooner than later, Sinan concludes that he has to cover all the expenses related to the book. He is a resolute man, even when expectation vanishes and disillusion sticks around. But by what means?

The film’s narrative arc demands attentiveness. It’s dense and talky, with a lot to absorb and almost no time to reflect. Yet, the deep meaning of the words blended with the pure, hyper-realistic filmmaking style of Ceylan, makes it a very rich experience. Finding a beautiful lyricism in its own desolation, the film dives into estrangement, existentialism, morality, and the passage of time with all the painful changes that might come with it.

Mustang (2015)

Directed by: Deniz Gamze Erguven
Country: Turkey

Movie Review: “Mustang”, the highly expressive debut feature from the French-Turkish filmmaker, Deniz Gamze Erguven, was attractively executed through an unobtrusive direction and a graceful acting. The screenplay, co-written by Erguven and Alice Winocour who directed the audacious “Augustine” three years ago, was pretty straightforward, depicting the lives of five teen orphaned sisters who are suddenly placed in the local ‘market’ by their grandmother and the uncle who raised them, awaiting the first chance to get married. The film starts on the last day of school in an ultra-conservative rural village in Turkey. The sisters are sad to say goodbye to their teacher who will be transferred to Istanbul the following year. The day is sunny and we can almost feel the scents of summer floating in the air. The beautiful and joyful flock, composed by Sonay, Selma, Ece, Nur, and Lale, is willing to enjoy the good weather and decides not to take the bus home, but rather walk, making a stop by the beach where they play games in the company of some boys, and then taking a detour into private grounds to grab some apples. Arriving home, they find the uptight grandmother acting furious, saying the whole village is talking about them because they were rubbing themselves on the boys during their little adventure on the beach. The afflicted grandmother and the stern uncle take security measures to avoid risks, so, higher walls are built, iron bars cover the windows, and the door is tightly bolted in order to confine them home until their marriage. The word is spread out to the village and the suitors arrive one by one to respectfully ask their hands, not before a virginity check-up is made to assure that the girls are conveniently pure. Meanwhile, the sisters disobey the orders, managing to escape and going to a soccer match. Their adventurous spirit wouldn’t be enough if they didn’t come across with an amiable van’s driver called Yasmin, who helped them getting to the stadium, and later on, befriends with the youngest sister and narrator, Lale. Among the girls, the latter is the emotionally strongest, the one who never stops trying to find a way out of the terrifying situation she and her sisters are involved. Ms. Erguven’s vision never goes astray and the approach was carefully outlined to extract the finest impressions from the excellent cast of newcomers. Only some segments of the script, especially the one that leads to the conclusion, could have been set up differently for better. Anyway, “Mustang” works as an eye-opener, demonstrating that some traditions can be extensively traumatizing.

Winter Sleep (2014)

Directed by: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Country: Turkey / others

Movie Review: I can state that “Winter Sleep”, the new masterpiece from acclaimed director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, does the same for modern Turkish cinema, as “A Separation” did for the Iranian one. The film gives us three hours of pure delight cinema, showcasing the life of a cultivated, wealthy man, Aydin (Haluk Bilginer), a former actor who lives in a small isolated Anatolian village, where he also runs a hotel. As he struggles to make his business thrive in harsh winter, he also deals with family problems, since his wife, Nahil (Melisa Sozen), shows no more love for him and tries to recover her confidence again by organizing a fundraising to help schools in need of improvement. She recognizes Aydin as a refined, honest man, but can’t stand him anymore for his vanity, cynical arrogance, and pride. If this wasn’t enough, his idle sister, Necla, criticizes him heavily in his editorial writings for a small local newspaper. At the same time he’s suing two brothers, the tenants of an old house he rents since his father’s time. One of the brothers is a good man, while the other is a depressive ex-con who usually shows an errant behavior. This is a tale about money, morality, love and conscience, words so many times referred during the assertive narrative, which carries so much beauty and pain. Ceylan uses more words in this film, conserving however the penetrating aesthetic style for which we know him, composed by the excellent work of his habitual cinematographer, Gokhan Tiryaki, and occasional moments of contemplation and inner reflection. Palme D’Or at Cannes, “Winter Sleep” hides a ponderous complexity behind its simple images, and so far is my favorite movie of 2014.

Benim Dunyam (2013)

Directed by: Ugur Yucel
Country: Turkey

Movie Review: “Benim Dunyam”, meaning ‘my world’, is a sleazy Turkish drama directed and starred by the actor-turned-filmmaker Ugur Yucel. Ela (Beren Saat) was born deaf and blind and their parents don’t know what to do with her or how to teach her to behave. Her father is growing impatient and believes that institutionalized her is the only solution. However, his wife decides to give a chance to an alcoholic old teacher, Mahir (Ugur Yucel), whose sister suffered from the same condition but was considered mentally retarded. Mahir’s methods are unconventional and even include some slaps, but the little girl needs to be tamed and learn the meaning of words in order to avoid being sent to a madhouse. He even has ambitious intentions: sending her to the university. Later on, it will be Ela who will try everything to help her former teacher, after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer disease. An excessive and forced sentimentality is present throughout the film, which also includes an indigestible score and uninspired approach. The toxic candidness of its longstanding narrative seemed eternal while exhibited a self-contentment in every tear shed. Visually pretty sharp, “Benim Dunyam”, doesn’t shine in any other aspect, becoming one of those slushy exercises that, from wanting to touch our feelings so frequently and easily, falls in complete banality.

Winds (2013)

Directed by: Selim Evci
Country: Turkey

Movie Review: Set in Imbros, currently known as Gokçeada Island, “Winds” makes a nostalgic portrait of a loved one’s loss and the sad reality of an island abandoned by the exodus. Murat is a photographer and sound recordist who left Istanbul to capture the sounds of a Greek village in the cited island, the largest of Turkey. There, he will become friends with a solitary elderly woman, Madam Styliani, who discloses her life story and gives him a lesson in history that Murat will keep as a treasure in his old cassettes. Two years later, Murat returns to the island finding her door completely closed. Madam Styliani had already died, but her granddaughter, Eleni, the main subject of her proud narration, had arrived in the island from France. Murat and Eleni embark in a contemplative discovery of places and objects, while listen to the recordings. The concept of recording sounds is not entirely new - the Irish “Silence”, directed by Pat Collins, reveals to be a much more ambitious and ambiguous depiction than “Winds”, which adopts a direct and ultimately predictable development. The shots of the pair riding a motorcycle throughout the deserted roads of the island were pretty similar to Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s 2006 “Climates”, while in the final moments both a glimpse of possible romance and communication with the dead, didn’t bring anything remarkable. Perhaps too detailed and quiescent, “Winds” seemed overextended and failed to engage as a whole.

The Butterfly's Dream (2013)

Directed by: Yilmaz Erdogan
Country: Turkey

Movie Review: Good intentions aside – the film pays a tribute to forgotten poets from the past and gives a good look on beautiful friendship - “The Butterfly’s Dream” wasn’t so inspired in its conception, despite the fantastic cinematography of Gokhan Tiryaki (known for his work with the acclaimed director Nuri Bilge Ceylan) and solid performances in general. Film director, actor and also poet, Yilmaz Erdogan, wrote, starred and directed this mournful drama with Hollywood film stereotypes in mind, and that was the main issue, asphyxiating the aspirations of a decent plot, which presented sufficient arguments to be a triumph – impoverished but spirited poets, Muzaffer and Rustu, enjoying life, friendship and love, searching for recognition, and fighting against tuberculosis in 1940’s Turkey. Both poets, who had the poet Behçet Necatigil (performed by Erdogan) as friend and mentor, will end up finding the love of their lives, until their short happiness be interrupted by sickness and a couple of painful goodbyes. An adventurous episode is presented when Muzaffer and his beloved Suzan disguised themselves to descend into the grueling world of coal miners. The narrative tones used were familiarly common, whereas the score, intrusive most of the times, has a too dramatic effect, taking us to the melodrama. “The Butterfly’s Dream” is watchable as a story, yet could have been so much better movie if Erdogan had gathered the right elements to compose the ideal atmosphere.

Mold (2012)

Directed by: Ali Aydin
Country: Turkey / Germany

Movie Review: "Mold", Ali Aydin’s auspicious debut on direction, is a joyless drama with a poignant look on hope and perseverance. Taking into account this is his first work, we have to recognize the enormous potentiality shown on different aspects, leading to noteworthy achievements such as Thessaloniki’s special jury prize, and Venice’s Luigi De Laurentiis award. The film depicts the inner torment and restlessness that Basri (Ercan Kesal), a quasi-retired railway guard who works in a small lifeless Anatolian town, carries for 18 years, time when his son mysteriously disappeared in Istanbul, when he was identified as anti-governmental protester. For years, he keeps writing petitions to the authorities, demanding to know if his son is dead or alive, but without practical results. One day, almost like a punishment, he witnesses a woman being raped by a co-worker, Cemil (Tansu Biçer), who after that becomes hostile and threatening. I was touched by the psychological suffocation of Basri, who couldn’t sleep or rest, having lost faith in everything, even in himself. With the help of a policeman who arranges a trip to Istanbul, Basri will have a last chance to find the truth. The brilliant cinematography by Murat Tuncel, a magnificent performance by the experienced Kesal, and Aydin’s pertinent and thoughtful screenplay, formed the essential basis for a very recommended drama, whose serene pace shall not dissuade art-house niches and fans of virtuous international cinema.

Jin (2013)

Directed by: Reha Erdem
Country: Turkey / others

Movie Review: So far, speaking of Turkish filmmaker Reha Erdem means interesting cinema, and “Jin” is here to confirm that. It tells the journey of a 17-year-old Kurdish girl who tries to leave a delimited and well-guarded mountain region in Turkey where she hides, in order to reach the border and get to her family. In a strange, almost supernatural communion with nature and animals along the way, Jin decides to move from her permanent hideaway among the rocks and rob a house where an old woman was bedridden. She steals food, clothes, money, and a book from the woman’s granddaughter to practice her reading. But fate will make her fall into the hands of several irascible men who wanted to take advantage of her. Jin will manage to escape and show her good heart in two occasions and in two different ways: when she kills a suffering Kurdish man at his request in prison, and when she saves a wounded Turkish soldier. Having walked in circles, it was with huge sorrow that Jin returns to her origin place, the hideaway cave, just to find more devastating bombardments and a sad scenario of misery and war. Throughout the film, I got fond of Jin and her good nature, excusing every little misdemeanor she was compelled to do in order to survive. With a superb cinematography by the habitual Florent Herry, the grim story of “Jin” gives us a totally different morality depicted in an astute and articulate manner, and showing to have more to give than a mere observation of the conflict.

Night Of Silence (2012)

Directed by: Reis Çelik
Country: Turkey

Movie Review: The captivating story of “Night Of Silence” presents a unique vision of duty and tradition in Turkish society. Accurately written and impeccably directed by Anatolian filmmaker Reis Çelik, the film uncovers the reality of Gelin (Ilyas Salman), a 13 year-old young bride who after being prepared according to tradition, was taken to the nuptial room where she awaits her new husband of 60 years-old, Damat (Dilan Aksut). The first scenes of the film made us conclude right away that Damat, recently released from a long-time imprisonment, belongs to those zealous men whose duty and honor is above everything and everyone. With this premise we cannot blame Gelin for being so afraid and trying to delay her inevitable fate of giving herself to this man. Surprisingly, the story takes a different turn and what seemed obvious became a game of words in the form of stories, unexpected revelations, and fear behaviors that happened to be very interesting to follow through. The overwhelmed ambiance shared by the protagonists could be strongly sensed, thanks to the incredible performances, rigorous cinematography by Gokhan Tiryaki (known for working with Nuri Bilge Ceylan), and every meaningful detail in a non-invasive direction. This is a film of patience for both characters and viewers, but the different angle of vision set up by Çelik along with the exposure of demanding rituals, and a finale whose ambiguity will force you to think afterwards, make “Night Of Silence” a genuine experience that comes very much intriguing.

The Son Of The Olive Merchant (2011)

Directed by: Mathieu Zeitindjioglou
Country: Turkey / France

Review: ‘I know that the truth carries the misfortune. Yet, I am not ready to renounce it.’ This is how Mathieu Zeitindjioglou and his wife, Anna, start “The Son Of The Olive Merchant”, a homemade documentary about the Armenian genocide perpetrated by the Ottoman army in 1915. During their honeymoon, the couple decided to make a trip to Turkey and visit several cities including Mathieu’s ancestors’ land, Ani, now a bunch of ruins. The film features a tale and some personal conclusions in animated form, impressive historical footage from the massacre, several Turkish citizens being interviewed, and images from the couple’s trip that includes friends (and their opinion on the matter) and visited places. “The Son Of The Olive Merchant” places the Turkish revisionism in the center of the debate, creating some awkward and sometimes funny situations. I’m thinking of a museum director who tries to explain his point of view, or even the simultaneously sad and risible comments that we can hear in the street interviews. These people grew up with the lies taught by their political leaders and there is very little we can do at this point. Technically, I didn’t find the film very appealing; the camera work is far from being perfect and the way the interviews were carried out leaves much to be desired. Nonetheless, these aspects didn't remove its effectiveness in denouncing the extreme nationalism in Turkey and the cynicism involved in one of the most barbarian genocides in the history of mankind.

Tepenin Ardi - Beyond The Hill (2012)

Directed by: Emin Alper
Country: Turkey / Greece

Review: “Beyond The Hill” is a Turkish thriller that marks Emin Alper’s debut on filmmaking and screenwriting, and should not be mistaken with the Romanian “Beyond The Hills” from the same year, directed by the acclaimed Cristian Mungiu. In a remote place, somewhere among the mountains of Anatolia, three generations of a quirky family are reunited to defend their land from a mysterious group of nomads who live behind the hill. Other people help the family maintaining the land in good conditions. However, the dispute with the nomads will serve as an excuse for everything bad that might happen to them, and the doubt about who are the real culprits is installed. These problematic people revealed to be obsessed, affected with loneliness, and evinced disturbed behaviors, which made me wonder if some of the incidents were real or hallucinations. Shots coming from nowhere just made the confusion and suspicion grow, but Alper constantly hid the truth from our eyes, leaving everything in suspension. With incisive silences, “Beyond The Hill” was emotionally detached, creating good moments of tension but without taking them to the next level. By playing with our senses, this illusive exercise on thriller, promised so much but let me down in its final moments. Nevertheless, it still deserves a good look, leaving me tuned for Alper’s coming works.

Inside (2012)

Directed by: Zeki Demirkubuz
Country: Turkey

Review: Adapted from the novel “Notes from Underground” by Dostoievsky, “Inside” takes us through a dark journey in the life of Muharrem, a restless man tied in his mundane world of pettiness, prostitutes, and loneliness. We can follow his questionable advices and conversations with Turkan, the maid of an elder neighbor who is losing his mind and constantly threatens to fire her; the fantastic speeches and dialogues in the presence of his friends whom he despise, especially Cevat, an awarded writer who he envies and accuses of being a thief of ideas; his eventual relationship with a prostitute he met after got drunk in Cevat’s party; and finally in his secretive world of paranoia, strange desires, and peculiar behaviors, which left me perplexed and intrigued. These uncomfortable situations were depicted in a Kafkian style through brilliantly photographed frames that show how tormented and fastidious was Muharrem’s existence. We could sense the suffering, every time that a close-up from his eyes showed that he had to woke up from turbulent nightmares and face the reality again. The ending unveils an exhausted man who shows to be too fragile and corrupted to recover from his existential pain and solitude. “Inside” is a poignant and devastating character-study, brightly directed by Demirkubuz, and performed with heart and passion by Engin Gunaydin.

Araf - Something In Between (2012)

Directed by: Yesim Ustaoglu
Country: Turkey / France / Germany

Review: Yesim Ustaoglu’s fifth film “Somewhere In Between” is a heavy drama that depicts the story of Zehra and Olgun, two friends who work together in a cafeteria. Their dream is to leave the city forever in order to flee from their depressing home environments. Olgun doesn’t hide his love for Zehra and makes plans for a future together, but things won’t be as expected. She had started a relationship with a truck driver, seeing him as a great opportunity to escape from her cheerless life. The film adopts a contemplative pace in the same line of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s works, but it runs for too long by trying to describe many aspects around the characters, some of them irrelevant. Close friends, family, and city landscapes, were portrayed with a wonderful light and photography, but I found myself struggling against the sleepy tone that was being exhibited. This ambience changed radically in the final 30 minutes, when the quietness was abandoned for despair, violence, tragic revelations, and some creepy moments. After an overextended first part, Ustaoglu tried to shake our senses all at once, but left me indisposed rather than impressed. “Somewhere in Between” revealed strong technical aspects but I cannot say this is an enjoyable trip. It wasn't solidly satisfactory, but also not entirely bad, I would say… something in between!

Conquest 1453 (2012)

Directed by: Faruk Aksoy
Country: Turkey

Summary: After the death of his father Murat II, Mehmet II ascends to the Ottoman throne.

Review: This showy production from Turkey was a big disillusion. The historical context of the plot wasn’t enough to save it from all kinds of clichés that you can imagine. Based on the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks with Sultan Mehmed II in command, “Conquest 1453” is overextended and hyper-saturated both in colors and battles. Made for the masses, its musical score just creates an illusion of great intensity warlike scenes and dramatic situations without any positive effect. To avoid!

Relevant awards: -

Our Grand Despair (2011)

Directed by: Seyfi Teoman
Country: Turkey

Plot: The peaceful cohabitation of two 30-something bachelors is disrupted when they both fall in love with the charming young woman who moves in with them.

Review: Nominated for the Golden Berlin Bear, “Our Grand Despair” turned out to be a disillusion. The plot seemed promising at the beginning but never went further than that. Lacking passion, little by little becomes tedious until we feel completely indifferent to what might happen to its characters. By trying to play with so confusing emotions, the movie loses orientation and objectivity. Skip this one.

Relevant awards: Jury and people's choice award (Instanbul); Best film (Nuremberg).

Once Upon A Time In Anatolia (2011)

Directed by: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Country: Turkey

Plot: A group of men set out in search of a dead body in the Anatolian steppes.

Quick comment: The cinema of Nuri B.Ceylan is beautiful but requires some patience from the viewer due to its slow pace. A very detailed investigation of a murder is the excuse to disclose the different characters of the people involved – suspects, police officers, doctor and prosecutor. A cynical criticism is used to denounce fragilities in the turkish police and medical procedures.

Relevant Awards: Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes Film Festival, France; Netpac Award at Karlovy Vary Fest., Czech Republic.