Winter Sleep.

I rather liked this film but I was not quite sure why at first but on reflection! Obviously it wasn’t meant as pure entertainment and I believe that only people with a true love of art house cinema would have got something worthwhile out of Winter Sleep (2014). During the screening at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre two people actually walked out shortly into the first hour. It would have been really interesting to find out why and what they originally expected from this Turkish film. Anyone who saw Nuri Bilge Ceylon’s previous movie Once upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) would have had a good idea what to expect!  Again we had a slowly unfolding story that’s never in a hurry to reveal its secrets. A raw scenic winter beauty, atmospheric lighting, acting that is so realistic that it could be a documentary, and a minimalist unobtrusive soundtrack that also makes great use of natural sounds all put together by a director that’s at the top of his form. It is a substantial novelistic and theatrical drama that demands the patience of the viewer.

 

Is there any real fondness between Aydin and his sister....

Said to be inspired by Anton Chekhov our main characters are a retired middle-aged actor Aydin (Haluk Bilginer), who has inherited his late fathers estate, which consists of a hotel and some tenanted cottages, Aydin’s manager Hidayet (Ayberk Pekcan) who runs the business and collects the rents, Aydin’s beautiful young wife Nihal (Melisa Sozen) and his divorced sister Necla (Demet Akbag) both of whom live in the noticeably claustrophobic confines of the hotel. All are dependant on the wealthy ex actor, but who do not seem very fond of him, in fact Aydin appears a lonely dejected person who depends on the others to wait upon him hand and foot but there is no real exchange of friendship.  

 

....or for that matter between the ex-actor and his beautiful young wife Nihal?

The movie deservedly won the Palme d’Or at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and was selected as the Turkish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 2015 Academy Awards but was not nominated. Again set in Anatolia it examines the significant divide between the rich (the powerful) and poor (the powerless). In time I’m sure that this powerful film will be seen for the great piece of cinematic art it is. Nuri Bilge Ceylon continues to build on his reputation as the Turkish Tarkovsky.

Nuri Bilge Ceylon with his cast at Cannes. 

Little Black Fish.

 One of the great things about attending an International Film Festival it that you meet people who you would not normally cross your path. Sitting next to me while I was watching Alejandro Fernandes powerful Chilean drama To Kill A Man (2014) was a very attractive young film director from Turkey her name was Azra Deniz Okyay. She was born in Istanbul in 1983 and spent most of her childhood in Asia. After graduating from Lycée Français Pierre Loti she completed her Cinematography BA and MA in Paris at the Sorbonne-Nouvelle. She interned for a while at Paris Partizan, an advertising and video production company and then worked for a year and a half at Premiere-Heure as a Junior Art Director. Her body of work to date consists of videos and short films all of which have mainly been shot between Paris and Istanbul. Her latest award winning short film Little Black Fish (2013) was having its UK Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival as part of a programme of short films called collectively City and Wilderness. 

 

Filming on the streets of Paris.

This is a movie inspired by true stories. Part documentary, part fiction it involves three women, Maral an illegal Armenian who is living and working in Turkey, Ela (played by Azra Deniz Okyay) who is trying desperately to stay in Paris and Julia (Camille De Sablet) a French woman who wants to develop her career as a photo-journalist.  The film opens with Ela being chased through the streets by immigration officials and appears to escape by jumping into the Seine. We then go back in time where we learn something about Maral, who is a qualified nurse. Because of the lack of employment and the low pay she has left Armenia and travelled to Turkey to try and find work. Living in constant fear of arrest because of her illegal status she has not seen her mother or brother for 12 years. We then move back to France where we find Ela dressed as a clown working the Champs Elysees handing out flyers for a circus. Ela shares a flat with Julia who takes her portfolio to a photojournalist company but is told that her ‘local’ photo’s are not what is required instead she is told to find a war zone like Gaza, risk life and limb and take some ‘real’ photos. She retorts that she will attend the Armenian – Turkey football match, a war zone in its self, and present the company with a photo-story. Ela sets out to get her resident permit extended, but its out of date along with the rest of her paperwork!  Maral in the meantime has had all her hard earned savings stolen that she was going to send home to her family.    

 

Director, writer and producer Azra Deniz Okyay.

Financed by generous friends and group funding It’s neither Turkish, French nor Armenian its simple an ‘immigrant’ film. Azra Deniz’s, who as well as acting and directing, wrote and produced the film, describes her project as one that’s meant to highlight immigration problems and to bring attention to the Turkish-Armenian debate. A film I perceive to be about how bureaucracy which can cruelly put an end to people’s hopes and dreams. The soundtrack is un-intrusive, the movie is superbly cut and edited, it holds your attention and succeeds in showing how ordinary hard working citizens of the world are touched by circumstances completely outside of there control. Azra Deniz Okyay has a great feel for her subject matter and makes you think twice before making the term ‘illegal immigrant’ sound like an expletive. 

‘The little fish live in a little lake. It must be in a big lake so it can grow’[1].

Trailer for Little Black Fish.

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[1] Tag line.

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

The Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre Film Club was this week showing its world cinema credentials with a second Turkish film. The first was in September last year, Bal (Honey) the Golden Bear winner at 2010 Berlin Film Festival was directed by Semih Kapanoglu and explores a young boys early childhood spent growing up in rural North-eastern Turkey where his father keeps bee’s in hives at the top of some very tall tree’s and supports his young wife and six year old son by collecting the honey.

This week’s film, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) shows a similar underprivileged environment but deals with a much different story line. This time we have what our host for the evening, Mr Michael Gray, introduced as a drama. He informed us that the film was directed and co-written by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, a man whose name is now being mentioned in the same breath as Berman, Tarkovsky and I would add Michael Haneke, who has up to know been best known for Uzac (2002) Climates (2006) and Three Monkeys (2008) and that his style was best summarized by a comment made in his acceptance speech at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival for Best Director “I dedicate this award to my beautiful and lonely country, which I love passionately” Mike was right when he suggested this would be obvious from tonight’s film.

The bleak but beautiful countryside that hides a murder victim.

Its early winter, we find three men, Yasar, Kenan and Kenan’s slow-witted brother Ramazan drinking and eating together in a garage workshop. The next scene we see three vehicles moving at speed through the night, two cars and a military style Jeep, whose passengers include policemen, uniformed paramilitaries, the local public prosecutor, a doctor and some grave diggers along with two handcuffed prisoners.  The detainees are homicide suspects and are being driven to various locations to locate a body that will allow them to be charged with murder.

The police chief questions his suspect.

A universal story that slowly and carefully unfolds, gradually giving up hints and ambiguities but leaving the final conclusions up to the audience to define. It’s a film where the influence of women is paramount but we hardly see any and when you do they have no dialogue.  The last half hour of the 157-minute film is almost an afterthought, leaving us with more questions than answers. But this is a wonderfully observed and extremely well written piece of work never completely hiding a unique sense of humour. Another of its highpoints is its beautifully composed photography by Ceylan’s regular cameraman Gokhan Tiryaki who uses naturalistic light to great advantage. This film give’s you an appetite to sample more of the Turkish directors work. Reality cinema at its very best, do not miss the chance to see this movie, on a big screen if at all possible.

Bal (Honey)

Yusuf finds it hard at school.

As your probably aware the RBC Film Club has a slightly different format this season in that a different person will host the complete evening each week and last night Julie McMorran made it look really easy and believe me its not! Julie introduced Bal (Honey) the Golden Bear winner at 2010 Berlin Film Festival a film that was in completion with 19 other films including The Killer Inside Me and Howl from the USA, Polanski’s The Ghost Writer and from France Mammuth, the Jury included Werner Herzog and Renee Zellweger.

The Turkish drama directed by Semih Kaplanoglu is the third and final instalment of the “Yusuf Trilogy” Yusuf being the central character in all three films. The first was 2007’s Egg and the second was Milk 2008. All were filmed and released in reverse chronological order.  Honey explores Yusuf’s early childhood spent growing up in rural North-eastern Turkey where his father keeps bee’s in hives at the top of some very tall tree’s in the nearby forest and supports his young wife and six year old son by collecting honey.

Yusuf reflective father.

The story is told from Yusuf’s prospective, a calm and withdrawn child who has a speech impediment that affects his relationship with his mother and with his school friends, but not the close relationship he has with his father. It’s been described as an intimate film with some unspectacular ingredients which I imagine includes it’s minimal dialogue and a non existent soundtrack which is not always a bad thing but in this instance it reduces a certain amount of emotional empathy the viewing audience has with the on screen characters. Its best attribute is its young star Bora Altas in his debut film, also the look of the film, ever scene is perfectly framed but the use of the static camera does add to its detachment. As one of our members observed this relationship drama has nothing new to offer and misses an opportunity to highlight environmental concerns. To sum up, its beautiful to look at in a travelogue sort of way but with its 103 minute running time gives the feeling of watching paint dry, something Werner Horzog apparently does not agree with?