Jason KingONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA: A Review by Salty
July 1st 2012 04:31
:
An odd film - that was kind of enjoyable
Late one night, an array of men - a police commissioner, a prosecutor, a doctor, a murder suspect and others - pack themselves into three cars and drive through the Anatolian countryside, searching for a body, across serpentine roads and rolling hills. The suspect claims he was drunk and can't quite remember where the body was buried; field after field, they dig but discover only dirt. As the night draws on, tensions escalate, and individual stories slowly emerge from the weary small talk of the men. Nothing here is simple, and when the body is found, the real questions begin.
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Turkish: Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da) is a 2011 Turkish drama film, co-written and directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan based on the true experience of one of the film's writers, telling the story of a group of men who search for a dead body on the Anatolian steppe. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on September 23, 2011, premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival where it was a co-winner of the Grand Prix.
I had heard so many things about this film, it is amazing, it is a standout, you will love it blah blah blah. It still sits on Rotten Tomatoes at 94% with critics the world over slobbering praise on it and the director's approach to filming - complete realism - but to be honest it came across as one of the most mundane dragged out films that is all over the bloody place with its plot.
If you re-read the opening of the synopsis above you will see that it says an "array of men", well this plot is about the minds and thought soy every one of those men. It is supposed to be about Firat Tanis as Suspect Kenan and the search for a body he has allegedly murdered and you get on board with this plot line and then you realise this search for a body is the side story and then have to cop the thoughts, random dialogue and every issue of pretty much every person in the film. In that it was completely real - there was no main plot - you just spend a day in the life of these men as they do their thing. This isn't horrible but it is tedious and tiring - you are expecting a plot to develop but this just adds more and more shit for you to try and comprehend and wonder what the bloody hell is the film about.
It is, however, intriguing to watch and you form opinions on who you like and who you think is a dickhead. The funny thing is Suspect Kenan is easily my favourite character, he is so emotionally ruined, there is no reason as to why he has allegedly killed this victim but he is ruined by it and is being destroyed by his guilt and remorse. The thing I loved about him was I thought it was his plot I was there to watch and mostly everyone else's was just annoying. I mean the strongest storyline comes forward that Prosecutor Nusret's (Taner Birsel) wife may have killed herself to spite him. I did like Birsel's performance and found this odd little smile he did so bloody evil. He knows he holds most of the power in the town but is also emotionally troubled. He was more than one dimensional. I think this is the key to the film and it's direction - everyone has many dimensions - which the critics love but for me there were so many dimensions I felt like Homer Simpson getting sucked into the 3rd dimension
There is also Doctor Cemal (Muhammet Uzuner), who has many issues. He is such a dark and mysterious character that spurts out this philosophical speech about a third into the film that I had no idea where it came from and then he just got darker and more mysterious and we started seeing why he was so dark but it is never really explained - you work out his wife and child are gone but that's it. Then towards the end this theme comes forward that children pay the price for their parent's mistakes. His was the most interesting character. Then finally the most annoying and in your face character with probably more issues than the rest is Commissar Naci (Yilmaz Erdogan) - he is just an asshole - hated him. Then when you want to hate him the most he does something remotely nice and then a dick again. It became annoying - but I suppose this is the reality of people - they aren't always black and white - they are many colours of grey. 50 Shades maybe?
If nothing this film is different, it is interesting, it is innovative and it is very slow moving. It has received many awards and it is shot beautifully. The cinematography is definitely one of the standouts for me that kept me interested in staying until the end. By this time the story was doing my head in and I wanted to kill half the characters. It also helped there was some occasional comic relief that was genuinely funny.
The film is out currently in Vic (Cinema Nova), Tas (State Hobart) and QLD (Regal Graceville). The film commences this THUR July 5th in NSW and I am gathering places like Dendy or Palace and probably Cinema Paris will be screening it so check their session times for further information if you are interested in watching it.
It was a pretty decent film but not really my cup of tea - I would give this a 6 out 10 murderous Anatolians
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (Turkish: Bir Zamanlar Anadolu'da) is a 2011 Turkish drama film, co-written and directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan based on the true experience of one of the film's writers, telling the story of a group of men who search for a dead body on the Anatolian steppe. The film, which went on nationwide general release across Turkey on September 23, 2011, premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival where it was a co-winner of the Grand Prix.
I had heard so many things about this film, it is amazing, it is a standout, you will love it blah blah blah. It still sits on Rotten Tomatoes at 94% with critics the world over slobbering praise on it and the director's approach to filming - complete realism - but to be honest it came across as one of the most mundane dragged out films that is all over the bloody place with its plot.
If you re-read the opening of the synopsis above you will see that it says an "array of men", well this plot is about the minds and thought soy every one of those men. It is supposed to be about Firat Tanis as Suspect Kenan and the search for a body he has allegedly murdered and you get on board with this plot line and then you realise this search for a body is the side story and then have to cop the thoughts, random dialogue and every issue of pretty much every person in the film. In that it was completely real - there was no main plot - you just spend a day in the life of these men as they do their thing. This isn't horrible but it is tedious and tiring - you are expecting a plot to develop but this just adds more and more shit for you to try and comprehend and wonder what the bloody hell is the film about.
It is, however, intriguing to watch and you form opinions on who you like and who you think is a dickhead. The funny thing is Suspect Kenan is easily my favourite character, he is so emotionally ruined, there is no reason as to why he has allegedly killed this victim but he is ruined by it and is being destroyed by his guilt and remorse. The thing I loved about him was I thought it was his plot I was there to watch and mostly everyone else's was just annoying. I mean the strongest storyline comes forward that Prosecutor Nusret's (Taner Birsel) wife may have killed herself to spite him. I did like Birsel's performance and found this odd little smile he did so bloody evil. He knows he holds most of the power in the town but is also emotionally troubled. He was more than one dimensional. I think this is the key to the film and it's direction - everyone has many dimensions - which the critics love but for me there were so many dimensions I felt like Homer Simpson getting sucked into the 3rd dimension
There is also Doctor Cemal (Muhammet Uzuner), who has many issues. He is such a dark and mysterious character that spurts out this philosophical speech about a third into the film that I had no idea where it came from and then he just got darker and more mysterious and we started seeing why he was so dark but it is never really explained - you work out his wife and child are gone but that's it. Then towards the end this theme comes forward that children pay the price for their parent's mistakes. His was the most interesting character. Then finally the most annoying and in your face character with probably more issues than the rest is Commissar Naci (Yilmaz Erdogan) - he is just an asshole - hated him. Then when you want to hate him the most he does something remotely nice and then a dick again. It became annoying - but I suppose this is the reality of people - they aren't always black and white - they are many colours of grey. 50 Shades maybe?
If nothing this film is different, it is interesting, it is innovative and it is very slow moving. It has received many awards and it is shot beautifully. The cinematography is definitely one of the standouts for me that kept me interested in staying until the end. By this time the story was doing my head in and I wanted to kill half the characters. It also helped there was some occasional comic relief that was genuinely funny.
The film is out currently in Vic (Cinema Nova), Tas (State Hobart) and QLD (Regal Graceville). The film commences this THUR July 5th in NSW and I am gathering places like Dendy or Palace and probably Cinema Paris will be screening it so check their session times for further information if you are interested in watching it.
It was a pretty decent film but not really my cup of tea - I would give this a 6 out 10 murderous Anatolians
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