Geez, I see that it's been 10 days already since my last post. Well, time flies when you are having fun (or, more to the point, plotting ways to make your escape from small-town New York). Anyway, with Hurricane Sandy about to make a fabulous entrance (congratulations, you live in Whitesboro, AND you get to deal with gale-force winds, sheets of rain, and maybe some snow mixed in), I figured I'd better get this one up before we lose power and the whole Northeast goes dark for a few days.
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (we'll refer to this one as OUTA from here-on in) is a Turkish film of much acclaim, enough so that it found its way onto FC's movie list. Like most foreign films I come across, neither the director nor any of the actors were previously known to me, so I didn't know what to expect. OUTA follows the journey of a diverse group of men: a police chief (Commissar Naci, normally referred to as Naci, or Boss, in the film), a doctor (Doctor Cemal, or just Doctor), a prosecutor from Ankara (the capital of Turkey, for the geographically-challenged) known as Prosecutor Nusret (though he's just referred to as Prosecutor), Naci's driver, Arap, and a ruffian known as Kenan. These are the main players, but several other guys, including a couple cops, two workers with shovels, and Kenan's friend, complete a supporting cast.
What is such a group of characters doing in each-other's company, you ask? Looking for a dead body, of course, in the rolling hills of eastern Turkey, the country's least developed region. Kenan and his friend (I never caught the name, the guy speaks about one line the whole film anyway) murdered another guy and buried him somewhere in the steppe, and now have to lead the police (headed by Naci) to the body. The doctor is on hand to provide an autopsy, and the prosecutor was needed for legal matters that were never made quite clear. You don't see the murder take place, nor the capture of the culprits, instead the movie begins with a convoy of vehicles driving in the dark, as Kenan tries to remember where they left their victim. He can't remember, of course, and that is what takes up the bulk of the film-the group's odyssey through the Turkish hinterlands in search of a dead guy.
I really don't know where to begin with this one, or even how to rate it. The first thing that stands out about OUTA is that it's a marathon: 2 hours and 40 minutes. It's a slow film too: lots of talking, with no action or excitement to speed things along. I actually had to watch it in installments. Now, don't confuse this with boring. I found quite a bit of the dialogue to be very intriguing, it's just.....slow. OK, at some points you wish things would hurry along, but I wouldn't label the film as being boring on the whole. There are a number of scenes that seem abnormally, and unnecessarily, drawn out. And I mean there is no dialogue or anything, just silence. For example, during a break from their search, the group stops in a village. During that sequence, at one point the doctor is sitting outside in the dark on his own, apparently thinking about something, while the wind swirls leaves around him and shakes the tree branches. This scene lasts for a few minutes, and I really couldn't tell to what end. I liked the plot-line, and the setting (rural Turkey has some pleasant scenery), but my main beef with OUTA is that, unfortunately, it left me with the uneasy feeling that something went completely over my head, and I was missing some deeper meanings or methaphors. Several conversations take place, for example, primarily between the doctor and the prosecutor, that I just know had some deeper meaning that I failed to grasp. Overall though, I couldn't help but feel that I was dumber than the director had hoped.
There is still more that I liked about this film. I think the acting is very good, and the film also sheds light onto some of the potential absurdities of the task at hand (upon finally finding the body, they realize they forgot a body bag, for instance) and there are even some humorous moments. Again, I also found much of the dialogue captivating. Unfortunately though, I'm not entirely sure I can recommend my readers go dive into a near 3-hour long film, particularly one that might leave them scratching their heads. This is by no means a bad film, quite to the contrary, I think is very well done, maybe even TOO well done. This is perhaps a tad too artsy-fartsy, a little too deep. Does this justify such a long run-time? I'm not so certain.
Verdict: I would say if you have the time, and the patience, OUTA is definitely worth a look, but I think there are more rewarding foreign flicks, for less time taken up.
Grade: B
If you like this movie you might also like: Once Upon a Time in the West, Once Upon a Time in America (disclaimer: never seen these films, but I know they are long, and they have Once Upon a Time in.....in the title)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJOFUsO_N20
Screenshots:
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (we'll refer to this one as OUTA from here-on in) is a Turkish film of much acclaim, enough so that it found its way onto FC's movie list. Like most foreign films I come across, neither the director nor any of the actors were previously known to me, so I didn't know what to expect. OUTA follows the journey of a diverse group of men: a police chief (Commissar Naci, normally referred to as Naci, or Boss, in the film), a doctor (Doctor Cemal, or just Doctor), a prosecutor from Ankara (the capital of Turkey, for the geographically-challenged) known as Prosecutor Nusret (though he's just referred to as Prosecutor), Naci's driver, Arap, and a ruffian known as Kenan. These are the main players, but several other guys, including a couple cops, two workers with shovels, and Kenan's friend, complete a supporting cast.
What is such a group of characters doing in each-other's company, you ask? Looking for a dead body, of course, in the rolling hills of eastern Turkey, the country's least developed region. Kenan and his friend (I never caught the name, the guy speaks about one line the whole film anyway) murdered another guy and buried him somewhere in the steppe, and now have to lead the police (headed by Naci) to the body. The doctor is on hand to provide an autopsy, and the prosecutor was needed for legal matters that were never made quite clear. You don't see the murder take place, nor the capture of the culprits, instead the movie begins with a convoy of vehicles driving in the dark, as Kenan tries to remember where they left their victim. He can't remember, of course, and that is what takes up the bulk of the film-the group's odyssey through the Turkish hinterlands in search of a dead guy.
I really don't know where to begin with this one, or even how to rate it. The first thing that stands out about OUTA is that it's a marathon: 2 hours and 40 minutes. It's a slow film too: lots of talking, with no action or excitement to speed things along. I actually had to watch it in installments. Now, don't confuse this with boring. I found quite a bit of the dialogue to be very intriguing, it's just.....slow. OK, at some points you wish things would hurry along, but I wouldn't label the film as being boring on the whole. There are a number of scenes that seem abnormally, and unnecessarily, drawn out. And I mean there is no dialogue or anything, just silence. For example, during a break from their search, the group stops in a village. During that sequence, at one point the doctor is sitting outside in the dark on his own, apparently thinking about something, while the wind swirls leaves around him and shakes the tree branches. This scene lasts for a few minutes, and I really couldn't tell to what end. I liked the plot-line, and the setting (rural Turkey has some pleasant scenery), but my main beef with OUTA is that, unfortunately, it left me with the uneasy feeling that something went completely over my head, and I was missing some deeper meanings or methaphors. Several conversations take place, for example, primarily between the doctor and the prosecutor, that I just know had some deeper meaning that I failed to grasp. Overall though, I couldn't help but feel that I was dumber than the director had hoped.
There is still more that I liked about this film. I think the acting is very good, and the film also sheds light onto some of the potential absurdities of the task at hand (upon finally finding the body, they realize they forgot a body bag, for instance) and there are even some humorous moments. Again, I also found much of the dialogue captivating. Unfortunately though, I'm not entirely sure I can recommend my readers go dive into a near 3-hour long film, particularly one that might leave them scratching their heads. This is by no means a bad film, quite to the contrary, I think is very well done, maybe even TOO well done. This is perhaps a tad too artsy-fartsy, a little too deep. Does this justify such a long run-time? I'm not so certain.
Verdict: I would say if you have the time, and the patience, OUTA is definitely worth a look, but I think there are more rewarding foreign flicks, for less time taken up.
Grade: B
If you like this movie you might also like: Once Upon a Time in the West, Once Upon a Time in America (disclaimer: never seen these films, but I know they are long, and they have Once Upon a Time in.....in the title)
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJOFUsO_N20
Screenshots:
The lead car: Arap driving with Naci next to him, Kenan is squeezed between the doctor (behind Naci) and another officer.
The group, bewildered by their fruitless efforts. The prosecutor is at center-front.
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