Smart, perceptive, keenly observant, heartbreaking: how the world crushes girls and turns lively people into automatons merely because they are female. I’m “biast” (pro): desperate for movies about women
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
This is a beautiful — and by beautiful I mean ugly but smart and perceptive and keenly observant and ultimately heartbreaking — story about how the world crushes the hopes and spirits of girls and turns lively, clever people into automatons merely because they are female. And that’s if they’re lucky. Five orphaned sisters being raised in the Turkish countryside by their uncle (Ayberk Pekcan) and their grandmother (Nihal G. Koldas) find themselves held virtual prisoners in their home when questions about their virtue are raised by a nosy neighbor. “The house became a wife factory,” says the youngest, Lale (Günes Sensoy), who is perhaps 9 or 10 years old,...
I’m “biast” (con): nothing
(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)
This is a beautiful — and by beautiful I mean ugly but smart and perceptive and keenly observant and ultimately heartbreaking — story about how the world crushes the hopes and spirits of girls and turns lively, clever people into automatons merely because they are female. And that’s if they’re lucky. Five orphaned sisters being raised in the Turkish countryside by their uncle (Ayberk Pekcan) and their grandmother (Nihal G. Koldas) find themselves held virtual prisoners in their home when questions about their virtue are raised by a nosy neighbor. “The house became a wife factory,” says the youngest, Lale (Günes Sensoy), who is perhaps 9 or 10 years old,...
- 2/26/2016
- by MaryAnn Johanson
- www.flickfilosopher.com
The girls in Deniz Gamze Ergüven's Mustang
After talking about working with Warren Ellis, being in a short film directed by Olivier Assayas for To Each His Own Cinema, the costumes by Selin Sozen, writing with Alice Winocour and being in Augustine, Deniz Gamze Ergüven discussed with me seeing Don Siegel's Escape From Alcatraz as an influence, the contrasting comparisons with Jafar Panahi's Offside and Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides and dynamics between the girls (Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan) and their guardians (Nihal G. Koldas, Ayberk Pekcan) in Mustang.
Anne-Katrin Titze: The football idea, although you use it differently, reminded me of Jafar Panahi's tremendous Offside. Were you connecting that?
Mustangs in the sea: "Plus you see the sea from the window."
Deniz Gamze Ergüven: What really triggered it was that that was such a crazy situation. For...
After talking about working with Warren Ellis, being in a short film directed by Olivier Assayas for To Each His Own Cinema, the costumes by Selin Sozen, writing with Alice Winocour and being in Augustine, Deniz Gamze Ergüven discussed with me seeing Don Siegel's Escape From Alcatraz as an influence, the contrasting comparisons with Jafar Panahi's Offside and Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides and dynamics between the girls (Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan) and their guardians (Nihal G. Koldas, Ayberk Pekcan) in Mustang.
Anne-Katrin Titze: The football idea, although you use it differently, reminded me of Jafar Panahi's tremendous Offside. Were you connecting that?
Mustangs in the sea: "Plus you see the sea from the window."
Deniz Gamze Ergüven: What really triggered it was that that was such a crazy situation. For...
- 2/16/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Mustang director Deniz Gamze Ergüven on costume designer Selin Sozen's "shapeless shit-colored dresses": "For me it looks like a western." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze
Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan star with Nihal G. Koldas, Ayberk Pekcan, Burak Yigit and Bahar Kerimoglu in Deniz Gamze Ergüven's Foreign Language Film Oscar nominated drama Mustang, co-written with Augustine director Alice Winocour. On a frosty afternoon in Chelsea, we spoke about Nick Cave collaborator Warren Ellis, who is featured in Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth's 20,000 Days On Earth, Jafar Panahi's Offside, why Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides lacks in comparison to Don Siegel's Escape From Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood, costume design, cooking lessons and the importance of blanket making.
Lale (Günes Sensoy)
Part allegory, part teenage empowerment, Mustang follows five high-spirited, orphaned sisters, Sonay [Akdogan], Selma [Sunguroglu], Ece [Iscan], Nur [Doguslu] and Lale [Sensoy]. Defying expectations in different...
Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan star with Nihal G. Koldas, Ayberk Pekcan, Burak Yigit and Bahar Kerimoglu in Deniz Gamze Ergüven's Foreign Language Film Oscar nominated drama Mustang, co-written with Augustine director Alice Winocour. On a frosty afternoon in Chelsea, we spoke about Nick Cave collaborator Warren Ellis, who is featured in Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth's 20,000 Days On Earth, Jafar Panahi's Offside, why Sofia Coppola's The Virgin Suicides lacks in comparison to Don Siegel's Escape From Alcatraz with Clint Eastwood, costume design, cooking lessons and the importance of blanket making.
Lale (Günes Sensoy)
Part allegory, part teenage empowerment, Mustang follows five high-spirited, orphaned sisters, Sonay [Akdogan], Selma [Sunguroglu], Ece [Iscan], Nur [Doguslu] and Lale [Sensoy]. Defying expectations in different...
- 2/15/2016
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Turkish-born French filmmaker Deniz Gamze Ergüven’s feature film debut Mustang is extremely impressive in its ability to portray, in extreme beauty, the allegorical atrociousness of life for five young sisters in rural Turkey.
Lale (Güneş Şensoy), Nur (Doğa Doğuşlu), Ece (Elit İşcan), Selma (Tuğba Sunguroğlu), and Sonay (İlayda Akdoğan) are five sisters who, as the film opens, are perfectly content with their young lives. After playing in the lake with their male classmates – sitting on the boys’ shoulders in a game of chicken – they arrive home and are physically punished by their grandmother (Nihal Koldaş), who heard from a woman in the neighborhood that they were inappropriately touching boys. Despite relenting and realizing that this rumor is false, their grandmother and Uncle Erol (Ayberk Pekcan), fear further rumors will hurt the girls’ chances of finding suitable husbands, and decide that the girls can no longer leave the family home.
Lale (Güneş Şensoy), Nur (Doğa Doğuşlu), Ece (Elit İşcan), Selma (Tuğba Sunguroğlu), and Sonay (İlayda Akdoğan) are five sisters who, as the film opens, are perfectly content with their young lives. After playing in the lake with their male classmates – sitting on the boys’ shoulders in a game of chicken – they arrive home and are physically punished by their grandmother (Nihal Koldaş), who heard from a woman in the neighborhood that they were inappropriately touching boys. Despite relenting and realizing that this rumor is false, their grandmother and Uncle Erol (Ayberk Pekcan), fear further rumors will hurt the girls’ chances of finding suitable husbands, and decide that the girls can no longer leave the family home.
- 2/2/2016
- by Rocco Tenaglia
- CinemaNerdz
The overriding morals in “Mustang,” the first feature from Turkish-French director Deniz Gamze Ergüven, are traditional and strict. From the opening voiceover, however, it’s clear that its main characters are anything but: “It’s like everything changed in a blink of an eye,” says Lale, the youngest of five adolescent sisters in northern Turkey. “One moment we were fine, then everything turned to shit.” The girls — exuberant, playful, outgoing — are orphans who are being raised by their grandmother (Nihal G. Koldas) and their uncle Erol (Ayberk Pekcan). And for the offense of splashing around in the sea with some.
- 11/21/2015
- by Tricia Olszewski
- The Wrap
Mustang Cohen Media Group Reviewed by: Harvey Karten for Shockya. Databased on Rotten Tomatoes. Grade: A- Director: Deniz Gamze Erguven Written by: Deniz Gamze Erguven, Alice Winocour Cast: Gunes Nezihe Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu, Elit Iscan, Ilayda Akdogan, Nihal Koldas, Ayberk Pekcan, Erol Afsin Screened at: Review 2, NYC, 11/12/15 Opens: November 20, 2015 Turkish girls just wanna have fun too! So what’s the problem? The adults, as usual. “Mustang,” which deals with this theme, is France’s entry to the Academy Awards competition (director Deniz Gamze Erguven lives in France—but really, this should have been the Turkish entry). We usually think of Turkey as one of the more [ Read More ]
The post Mustang Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
The post Mustang Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.
- 11/13/2015
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
A pair of sections that we’ve been covering almost since its inception, the American Film Institute (AFI) announced their selections for the New Auteurs and American Independents line-ups and we’ve got a noteworthy, eyebrow-raising sampling of award-winning items from the Cannes played hellish immigration drama Mediterranea from Jonas Carpignano to Sundance (Josh Mond’s James White) to SXSW (Trey Edward Shults’ Krisha) winners. Since Park City days, our Nicholas Bell has reviewed a good chunk of these titles, but we’ll still likely have a couple of more reviews once the festival begins. Here are the selections and jury members.
New Auteurs Selections (11 Titles)
From Afar – When a middle-aged man is assaulted and robbed by a young criminal, an unlikely relationship develops. Dir Lorenzo Vigas. Scr Lorenzo Vigas. Cast Alfredo Castro and Luis Silva. Venezuela/Mexico. U.S. Premiere
Disorder – Matthias Schoenaerts plays an ex-soldier who becomes locked...
New Auteurs Selections (11 Titles)
From Afar – When a middle-aged man is assaulted and robbed by a young criminal, an unlikely relationship develops. Dir Lorenzo Vigas. Scr Lorenzo Vigas. Cast Alfredo Castro and Luis Silva. Venezuela/Mexico. U.S. Premiere
Disorder – Matthias Schoenaerts plays an ex-soldier who becomes locked...
- 10/15/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
After the initial slate for the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival was announced last month there were many observers, including this pundit, who wondered of the annual September event had once again lost the battle of premieres to its Fall festival cousins. While debuting Ridley Scott's "The Martian," Jean Marc Valle's "Demolition" and Michael Moore's "Where Do We Invade Next" is nothing to sneeze at the fact some of the most anticipated films of the year are heading to Venice and Telluride first has to be a bit disheartening. Especially when it's your 40th anniversary. Never fear fans of the Great White North, Toronto always seems to land some eyebrow raising last minute additions and this year is no different. Today Tiff announced that David Gordon Green's "Our Brand Is Crisis" with Sandra Bullock, Marc Abraham's "I Saw The Light" with Tom Hiddleston, Catherine Hardwicke's "Miss You Already...
- 8/19/2015
- by Gregory Ellwood
- Hitfix
The Toronto International Film Festival has added 5 Galas and 19 Special Presentations to its huge and highly anticipated international lineup including the Closing Night Film, Paco Cabezas’s Mr. Right.
In July, it was announced that Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition will open the 2015 Festival. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper and Judah Lewis, Demolition will have its world premiere on September 10 at Roy Thomson Hall.
Toronto audiences will be among the first to screen films by directors Ridley Scott, Deepa Mehta, Lenny Abrahamson, Brian Helgeland, Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, Jason Bateman, Cary Fukunaga, Catherine Corsini, Stephen Frears, Tom Hooper, Hany Abu-Assad, Meghna Gulzar, Terence Davies, Jonás Cuarón, Julie Delpy, Rebecca Miller, Rob Reiner, Catherine Hardwicke, Pan Nalin, Lorene Scafaria, David Gordon Green, Matthew Cullen, Gaby Dellal, James Vanderbilt and Marc Abraham.
The various films listed below star Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Susan Sarandon, Gary Oldman, Toni Collette, Drew Barrymore,...
In July, it was announced that Jean-Marc Vallée’s Demolition will open the 2015 Festival. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts, Chris Cooper and Judah Lewis, Demolition will have its world premiere on September 10 at Roy Thomson Hall.
Toronto audiences will be among the first to screen films by directors Ridley Scott, Deepa Mehta, Lenny Abrahamson, Brian Helgeland, Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, Jason Bateman, Cary Fukunaga, Catherine Corsini, Stephen Frears, Tom Hooper, Hany Abu-Assad, Meghna Gulzar, Terence Davies, Jonás Cuarón, Julie Delpy, Rebecca Miller, Rob Reiner, Catherine Hardwicke, Pan Nalin, Lorene Scafaria, David Gordon Green, Matthew Cullen, Gaby Dellal, James Vanderbilt and Marc Abraham.
The various films listed below star Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Susan Sarandon, Gary Oldman, Toni Collette, Drew Barrymore,...
- 8/18/2015
- by Michelle McCue
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Snow falls on the Cappadocia Mountains as turmoil boils up indoors between a wealthy writer and his wife. At least that would the superficial way to describe master filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest intimate epic, which earned him the Palme d’Or award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. But with Ceylan’s work nothing is ever shallow. His affinity to elicit nuanced vulnerability from both his actors and the landscape is present in every frame of this 196-minute marvel of a film. Yes, it’s a film that expands for over three hours, which takes place in just a few locations and focuses on a small cast. That, however, should not deter anyone from experiencing this riveting and powerful work. Time is not an issue for Ceylan’s calibrated pacing, and it never becomes one for the viewer that is willing to dive in fully into the emotional and philosophical odyssey that is “Winter Sleep."
Read More: Sydney Levine's Feature Piece on "Winter Sleep" from Cannes 2014
Aydin (Haluk Bilginer), the owner of a charmingly rustic hotel, is having issues with a family of unruly tenants at a different property within the mountain community. He rarely bothers with micromanaging any of his business. His butler/handyman Hidayet (Ayberk Pekcan) handles all the daily operations that would otherwise occupy Aydin’s time. Instead, the refined middle-aged man dedicates his days to writing. Aydin writes articles about relevant occurrences in the small town, and he is particularly drawn to the lack of righteousness he sees in certain religious leaders. In fact, his own self-declared virtue is often what scares people away. He is a man of principles who, unconsciously perhaps, uses such qualities against the flawed individuals that surround him.
Both his young wife Nihal (Melisa Sözen) and his divorced sister Necla (Demet Akbag) feel weak under his unspoken and all-consuming superiority. On the one hand, Nihal wants to find a small amount of independence by doing charity work without Aydin’s supervision. Raising money without his help would grant her a sense of fulfillment outside of his domain. Necla, on the other hand, is obsessed with the idea of defeating evil by passively accepting it. She claims that by not fighting evil the perpetrator will experience shame. Aydin finds this philosophy absurd, probably even more so because of a recent incident with the troublemaking tenants. This concoction of complex ideologies and internal conflicts makes for thought provoking conversations throughout the film.
“Winter Sleep” is evidently a dialogue driven film that was inspired by Chekhov’s stories, which Ceylan avidly transformed into the perfect material for his poetic vision. Complementing the searing debates about class and human nature are the spectacular vistas that characterize the director’s work. The vast snowy landscape serves as ominous backdrop for the characters’ realizations about one another. Like in his previous works, Ceylan once again correlates his protagonists’ internal state with the natural environment and the weather. Their introspective thoughts translate into the dangerous beauty of his chosen locations.
Indoors, the Caravaggesque cinematography by Ceylan's longtime collaborator Gökhan Tiryaki is warm and elegant. The images are just stylized enough to be noticed but still minimalistic in order for the outstanding performances to shine. Veteran Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer is a subdued force of nature. Aydin is a man whose convictions define him. There is little room in his idiosyncratic lifestyle to notice the suffocating nature of his behavior. Bilginer captures that self-righteousness with unsettling easy. As the plot thickness and his worldview is challenged repeatedly, doubt starts to set in. Yet, as he himself puts it when confronting timid Nihal, he is not entirely to blame for his monstrous outbursts. “Idolizing a man and then being mad at him because he’s not a god. Do you think that’s fair?” exclaims Aydin. The same monster that is freighting is also capable of kindness, and is this grading duality that is so difficult to accept. Ceylan doesn’t work with absolutes.
Among the marvelously cast ensemble, one performer that stand out is young Emirhan Doruktutan who plays Ilyas, and Nejat Isler who is his father Ismail. With hardly any lines the boy manages to inflict tremendous pain. His penetrating look conveys immeasurable anger towards Aydin and his family for humiliating his father. At the same time, Ismail’s quietly deranged grin is lethal in crucial scenes. Anguish masked with pride is visible on both of their faces, which is definitely an affecting sight.
When it comes to exploring morality and the ambiguity of his characters’ actions, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s has an infinite talent for subtly. He allows each scene to play to its limit. The hypnotizing back and forth between his actors is clearly the result of profound work and trust between them and the filmmaker. Sure, some people will undoubtedly be put off by the running time or the specific storytelling approach that Ceylan employs to slow cook the drama. The way he permeates the plot with a potent dose of big ideas dissected through a very personal narrative is something that asks for the audience to be receptive and to go all the way. Nevertheless, “Winter Sleep” is a ravishingly beautiful testament to Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s incredible talent for precise observation. Give yourself the chance to be affected. Without a doubt I was, from minute 1 to minute 196, absorbed by the impeccable mastery of one of Ceylan’s most accomplished masterpieces.
Read More: Sydney Levine's Feature Piece on "Winter Sleep" from Cannes 2014
Aydin (Haluk Bilginer), the owner of a charmingly rustic hotel, is having issues with a family of unruly tenants at a different property within the mountain community. He rarely bothers with micromanaging any of his business. His butler/handyman Hidayet (Ayberk Pekcan) handles all the daily operations that would otherwise occupy Aydin’s time. Instead, the refined middle-aged man dedicates his days to writing. Aydin writes articles about relevant occurrences in the small town, and he is particularly drawn to the lack of righteousness he sees in certain religious leaders. In fact, his own self-declared virtue is often what scares people away. He is a man of principles who, unconsciously perhaps, uses such qualities against the flawed individuals that surround him.
Both his young wife Nihal (Melisa Sözen) and his divorced sister Necla (Demet Akbag) feel weak under his unspoken and all-consuming superiority. On the one hand, Nihal wants to find a small amount of independence by doing charity work without Aydin’s supervision. Raising money without his help would grant her a sense of fulfillment outside of his domain. Necla, on the other hand, is obsessed with the idea of defeating evil by passively accepting it. She claims that by not fighting evil the perpetrator will experience shame. Aydin finds this philosophy absurd, probably even more so because of a recent incident with the troublemaking tenants. This concoction of complex ideologies and internal conflicts makes for thought provoking conversations throughout the film.
“Winter Sleep” is evidently a dialogue driven film that was inspired by Chekhov’s stories, which Ceylan avidly transformed into the perfect material for his poetic vision. Complementing the searing debates about class and human nature are the spectacular vistas that characterize the director’s work. The vast snowy landscape serves as ominous backdrop for the characters’ realizations about one another. Like in his previous works, Ceylan once again correlates his protagonists’ internal state with the natural environment and the weather. Their introspective thoughts translate into the dangerous beauty of his chosen locations.
Indoors, the Caravaggesque cinematography by Ceylan's longtime collaborator Gökhan Tiryaki is warm and elegant. The images are just stylized enough to be noticed but still minimalistic in order for the outstanding performances to shine. Veteran Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer is a subdued force of nature. Aydin is a man whose convictions define him. There is little room in his idiosyncratic lifestyle to notice the suffocating nature of his behavior. Bilginer captures that self-righteousness with unsettling easy. As the plot thickness and his worldview is challenged repeatedly, doubt starts to set in. Yet, as he himself puts it when confronting timid Nihal, he is not entirely to blame for his monstrous outbursts. “Idolizing a man and then being mad at him because he’s not a god. Do you think that’s fair?” exclaims Aydin. The same monster that is freighting is also capable of kindness, and is this grading duality that is so difficult to accept. Ceylan doesn’t work with absolutes.
Among the marvelously cast ensemble, one performer that stand out is young Emirhan Doruktutan who plays Ilyas, and Nejat Isler who is his father Ismail. With hardly any lines the boy manages to inflict tremendous pain. His penetrating look conveys immeasurable anger towards Aydin and his family for humiliating his father. At the same time, Ismail’s quietly deranged grin is lethal in crucial scenes. Anguish masked with pride is visible on both of their faces, which is definitely an affecting sight.
When it comes to exploring morality and the ambiguity of his characters’ actions, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s has an infinite talent for subtly. He allows each scene to play to its limit. The hypnotizing back and forth between his actors is clearly the result of profound work and trust between them and the filmmaker. Sure, some people will undoubtedly be put off by the running time or the specific storytelling approach that Ceylan employs to slow cook the drama. The way he permeates the plot with a potent dose of big ideas dissected through a very personal narrative is something that asks for the audience to be receptive and to go all the way. Nevertheless, “Winter Sleep” is a ravishingly beautiful testament to Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s incredible talent for precise observation. Give yourself the chance to be affected. Without a doubt I was, from minute 1 to minute 196, absorbed by the impeccable mastery of one of Ceylan’s most accomplished masterpieces.
- 12/19/2014
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
In his most talky and arguably most “Turkish” film to date, writer/director Nuri Bilge Ceylan grandly ponders and elaborates on an immense amount of thickset, intricate and ever so spiraling drama around the human condition. 2014’s Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep, the seventh feature of Ceylan’s career, takes aim throughout its 196-minute expansive running time and shoots its thorny ideas around class, society and the many self-righteous trivialities of the privileged to an often brutally truthful outcome. Not all of these bullets always find a target, mind you –Winter Sleep occasionally squanders its wealth of wisdom amid hitting redundant notes (one can imagine a shorter and equally effective film)– but when they do, the icy, visceral pain it evokes is at once humanizing and mystifying in equal measure. Winter Sleep is set in the fantastical Cappadocia in Turkey – land of the ‘fairy chimneys’ — and mainly follows the evidently well-off stage-actor-turned-hotel-owner Aydın (Haluk Bilginer) and...
- 12/17/2014
- by Tomris Laffly
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Winter Sleep
Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Written by Ebru Ceylan and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, based on stories by Anton Chekhov
Turkey, 2014
Turkey is a place of complicated ethos and Winter Sleep, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s meandering three-hour work attempts to obliquely capture some of this complexity where his previous films would simply obliterate the vast swathes of Turkey’s predominantly “oriental”, non-secular, less Cannes-friendly identity. With this umpteenth filmic attempt at decorticating the ennui of the westernised, urban Turkish middle class, Ceylan, the poster boy for the part of Turkey that views itself as a precinct of Europe, and a Cannes darling, eventually succeeded in winning the Palme d’Or. Ceylan has been one of the directors ‘subscribed’ to Cannes (think the Dardenne brothers, Kiarostami, Von Trier, recently joined by newly anointed Xavier Dolan, directors whose films tend to be selected not on individual merit but on the directors...
Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Written by Ebru Ceylan and Nuri Bilge Ceylan, based on stories by Anton Chekhov
Turkey, 2014
Turkey is a place of complicated ethos and Winter Sleep, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s meandering three-hour work attempts to obliquely capture some of this complexity where his previous films would simply obliterate the vast swathes of Turkey’s predominantly “oriental”, non-secular, less Cannes-friendly identity. With this umpteenth filmic attempt at decorticating the ennui of the westernised, urban Turkish middle class, Ceylan, the poster boy for the part of Turkey that views itself as a precinct of Europe, and a Cannes darling, eventually succeeded in winning the Palme d’Or. Ceylan has been one of the directors ‘subscribed’ to Cannes (think the Dardenne brothers, Kiarostami, Von Trier, recently joined by newly anointed Xavier Dolan, directors whose films tend to be selected not on individual merit but on the directors...
- 10/28/2014
- by Zornitsa
- SoundOnSight
Ceylan’s Talky Theatrical Epic unlikely to have Many Nodding Off
Since it was first announced to go into production more than a year ago, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s follow-up to his existential and noirish Once a Upon a Time in Anatolia also runs well beyond the three-hour mark, fans of austere and uncompromising cinema rejoiced, for we could feel a swelling sense that Ceylan was approaching a zenith in his artistry and ambition. In truth, it is and it isn’t. A talkathon that may have been derived from a script of 300 pages, Winter Sleep is both Ceylan’s most epic and one of his most intimate films; indeed, it could easily have been conceived as a stage play rather than a film – not least because of the film’s multiple allusions to Shakespeare. Beautiful, exhausting, and at times excessively moralistic, it nonetheless represents a progression in the Turkish auteur’s work,...
Since it was first announced to go into production more than a year ago, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s follow-up to his existential and noirish Once a Upon a Time in Anatolia also runs well beyond the three-hour mark, fans of austere and uncompromising cinema rejoiced, for we could feel a swelling sense that Ceylan was approaching a zenith in his artistry and ambition. In truth, it is and it isn’t. A talkathon that may have been derived from a script of 300 pages, Winter Sleep is both Ceylan’s most epic and one of his most intimate films; indeed, it could easily have been conceived as a stage play rather than a film – not least because of the film’s multiple allusions to Shakespeare. Beautiful, exhausting, and at times excessively moralistic, it nonetheless represents a progression in the Turkish auteur’s work,...
- 6/2/2014
- by Blake Williams
- IONCINEMA.com
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