Verdict: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Over the years, I have increasingly gravitated towards films where supposedly “nothing happens”. Characters talk, no attempt is made to instill a moral point into the minds of the audience, which is usually accompanied with long, patient shots of people existing in their environments. This was an excellent specimen of the same dish.
I had watched Once Upon a Time in Anatolia from the same director previously and much like films by Wes Anderson, I could immediately tell this was Ceylan’s film right from the start, although these two directors could not be any more different. The way Ceylan deals with landscapes and how people co-exist with nature is simply breathtaking. Alas, I neither have the vocabulary nor the expertise to appreciate much less dissect a film like this, but let these screenings be my own private film school and I hope that at the end of this year (which I’ve dedicated to watching foreign language films only), I would at least be in a position where I can better appreciate these masters of their crafts.