Aydin, a former actor, runs a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife Nihal with whom he has a stormy relationship and his sister Necla who is suffering from her recent divorce.... See full summary »
A dowdy university instructor Isa is an inattentive husband to his younger, TV-business wife Bahar. Self-absorbed and selfish, Isa only communicates in the most rudimentary way, while she, similarly, detaches into crying jags and juvenile behavior.
Yusuf is released from prison after serving a ten-year sentence. He is scared of life outside as he goes to an address given to him by another prisoner.
The film is about the introduction of television to a small village in southeast Anatolia in 1974. Employing a tragicomic language, it tells of the efforts of Emin who is the village idiot ... See full summary »
Musa, who works as a bookkeeper in the customs office, believes in the emptiness and absurdity of life. He doesn't struggle to change his life; he lets himself flow along with events ... See full summary »
This is a movie within movie, which is almost recursive, i.e., the movie inside looks like director Ceylan's previous movie, Kasaba. It is about the movie director, Muzaffer, going back to ... See full summary »
The story of a family living in a small godforsaken town in Turkey seen through the eyes of children and dealing with the growing complexity when one becomes an adult.
Director:
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Stars:
Sercihan Alevoglu,
Latif Altintas,
Cihat Bütün
In the rural area around the Anatolian town of Keskin, the local prosecutor, police commissar, and doctor lead a search for a victim of a murder to whom a suspect named Kenan and his mentally challenged brother confessed. However, the search is proving more difficult than expected as Kenan is fuzzy as to the body's exact location. As the group continues looking, its members can't help but chat among themselves about both trivia and their deepest concerns in an investigation that is proving more trying than any of them expected. Written by
Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com)
The anecdote about the sudden death of a woman told by prosecutor Nusret and the doctor's deduction come from the short story The Examining Magistrate by Russian writer Anton Chekhov. See more »
Goofs
Once the deceased body is discovered you can see the "corpse's" thumb briefly twitch. See more »
I've just watched Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. Very courageous naming after Sergio Leone's masterpieces. But definitely it deserves that.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan has always been one of my living cinema idols. I know many young people in Turkey inspired by his cinema, and wanted to make their own films. He has affected a whole generation of new filmmakers, both in and outside Turkey. Not because he won a Grand Prix in Cannes with his film Distant that he shot with 3-4 people of crew, but because we can actually feel the essence of cinema in his films.
I think these are enough to tell you about my admiration to him. But this film I've watched tonight was a true surprise for me. Its his best work so far, and was very pleasant to watch in spite of its long runtime.
To me, its one of the achievements in the world cinema in the last few years.
Unlike to his previous films, I see real mastery this time. He was not experimenting , not learning to direct, not trying to make a good movie out of nothing, but was exactly knowing what he does.
The acting was superb. All the leading actors had great performances. As a guy from Turkey I can say that every single moment was so much real.
All these tensions in real life situations and the subtle humor in the background. I think it has the true value of NBC's films.
For a film lover there there are some films in the world, always made by some exceptional directors, that shows you the true beauty of cinema. These are not average art-house films, nor anything you watch for having some good time. These films are more like some religious rituals or spiritual experience. Not because they are mystical or having some spiritual moments, but just because they respect cinema so much and make it a sacred art form.
This film was one of those rare films that reminds me why I love cinema that much..
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I've just watched Once Upon a Time in Anatolia. Very courageous naming after Sergio Leone's masterpieces. But definitely it deserves that.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan has always been one of my living cinema idols. I know many young people in Turkey inspired by his cinema, and wanted to make their own films. He has affected a whole generation of new filmmakers, both in and outside Turkey. Not because he won a Grand Prix in Cannes with his film Distant that he shot with 3-4 people of crew, but because we can actually feel the essence of cinema in his films.
I think these are enough to tell you about my admiration to him. But this film I've watched tonight was a true surprise for me. Its his best work so far, and was very pleasant to watch in spite of its long runtime.
To me, its one of the achievements in the world cinema in the last few years.
Unlike to his previous films, I see real mastery this time. He was not experimenting , not learning to direct, not trying to make a good movie out of nothing, but was exactly knowing what he does.
The acting was superb. All the leading actors had great performances. As a guy from Turkey I can say that every single moment was so much real.
All these tensions in real life situations and the subtle humor in the background. I think it has the true value of NBC's films.
For a film lover there there are some films in the world, always made by some exceptional directors, that shows you the true beauty of cinema. These are not average art-house films, nor anything you watch for having some good time. These films are more like some religious rituals or spiritual experience. Not because they are mystical or having some spiritual moments, but just because they respect cinema so much and make it a sacred art form.
This film was one of those rare films that reminds me why I love cinema that much..