"You're actually a well-educated, honest, fair and conscientious man. But sometimes you use those virtues to suffocate people, to crush and humiliate them."
-Nihal
Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival #1
This was the first time I attended the Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival, this year being its 8th edition. This year's festival opened up with a must see, Winter Spleep, a film I absolutely could not wait to watch. It has gotten a lot of great buzz around it, especially since it won the Palm d'Or back in May, which basically catapulted this film into the radar of all movie lovers. I went in with reserves still, because I mean, it's a two hundred minute movie and it is not every picture that can own that run-time, still I was excited and hoping for great things.
We follow the mountains and the landscapes of the startling and breathtaking Anatolia, in Turkey. Winter has arrived for these poor, distanced, isolated villages and with it some cold winds and trouble have to come stay. Aydin is a retired theater actor, a rich, influential man within the villages near him. He has now settled down in his hotel in central Anatolia. He seems to be lonesome but mildly happy and satisfied with the life he leads, a simple life that one is. He writes for the local newspaper, he writes about too important matters for such a small newspaper which no one reads. He's working on his new book about the Turkish theater and this way, he's able to keep focus and not lose his mind for the hopeless silence and isolation of the landscapes.
Trouble starts when a family, who has lived in a house that Aydin has rented them for many years, can't pay him for their stay in the house. Has a consequence, Aydin's lawyers are obliged to go and rifle that family's belongings and leaving them with little to live with, even their dignity. Aydin, knows little about the matter and lets the lawyers and his friend Hidayet to take care of the problem.
The first episode happens when a child, that leaves in that house with his poor family, hits Aydin's car with a rock and consequentially breaking his car window and almost making a car accident happen. Aydin and Hidayet take the child back home, where his father is waiting. The child is soaking wet, since he had fallen in a river while trying to run way. It is here that we have a confrontation between the man who has seen his dignity and the dignity of his family taken away because of their lack of economical possibilities and the man who's basically, even if in an incidental way, the one who has taken it. This is a 5 minute dialogue, which starts very quiet, building up an unbearable tension until a climax that felt unavoidable.
That's basically what the film is all about, the movie is narratively driven by its dialogue. The film is divided into a more or less episodic series of dialogues where people ultimately lose control, let their masks fall and speak their mind, even at times more with the purpose of hurting each other, more than to have an actual argument. There's a clear contrast here between the pale, quiet beautiful natural backgrounds and the strain and hate that's being unleashed. We are talking about twenty minutes sequences of just dialogue, some may be even longer. This could have resulted in a bore but it doesn't, because we can totally relate to some of the dialogues that always feel genuine and because they are so compelling, rich and filled with several layers of development. Almost every single sequence, ultimately leads up for a quiet climax (when it comes to sound) but a catastrophic one to the characters that we are following.
Winter Sleep was far from being a bore at the theaters, the environment was fantastic, the film does have its wits, whimsical moments that often resulted in huge laughs and I thought the run- time was totally bearable, but yeah I mean it is a two hundred minute picture and I think it's safe to say that the movie extends its visit for a little too long. I had had a long day behind me and I started to feel the weight of its run-time in the last forty minutes or so. My numbing neck and aching legs probably didn't help, so I was a bit inpatient for the film's ending. I was impatient because the film was starting to lose me, the dialogues were no longer grabbing as tight and because I wanted to know in what note this film would end.
When it comes to craft, well this is pretty much spotless. Cinematography is gorgeous, some tremendous images go through the screen through its run time. It's not only well crafted when it comes to cinematography for example but also when it comes to storytelling. Narratively it's bold and engaging and it creates its own set of rules.
Winter Sleep is a film that I respect massively, I probably have to say though, that I respect it more than what I actually enjoyed it. It's a huge, colossal film that nearly owns it's two hundred minutes, even if it was way too much for my numbing back and drained energy. It's a film that will surely only be appreciated by a small amount of people, Nuri Bilge Ceylan has gained in me a follower but I don't believe he will make many friendships with main audiences who will soon discard such a long, slowly paced Turkish drama. It is a challenging film that ultimately rewards its audience with some powerful images and palpable strain. The audience in the theater seemed to be in awe, me I was simply left satisfied and with a huge respect for the piece.
Rating:B-
-Nihal
Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival #1
This was the first time I attended the Lisbon & Estoril Film Festival, this year being its 8th edition. This year's festival opened up with a must see, Winter Spleep, a film I absolutely could not wait to watch. It has gotten a lot of great buzz around it, especially since it won the Palm d'Or back in May, which basically catapulted this film into the radar of all movie lovers. I went in with reserves still, because I mean, it's a two hundred minute movie and it is not every picture that can own that run-time, still I was excited and hoping for great things.
We follow the mountains and the landscapes of the startling and breathtaking Anatolia, in Turkey. Winter has arrived for these poor, distanced, isolated villages and with it some cold winds and trouble have to come stay. Aydin is a retired theater actor, a rich, influential man within the villages near him. He has now settled down in his hotel in central Anatolia. He seems to be lonesome but mildly happy and satisfied with the life he leads, a simple life that one is. He writes for the local newspaper, he writes about too important matters for such a small newspaper which no one reads. He's working on his new book about the Turkish theater and this way, he's able to keep focus and not lose his mind for the hopeless silence and isolation of the landscapes.
Trouble starts when a family, who has lived in a house that Aydin has rented them for many years, can't pay him for their stay in the house. Has a consequence, Aydin's lawyers are obliged to go and rifle that family's belongings and leaving them with little to live with, even their dignity. Aydin, knows little about the matter and lets the lawyers and his friend Hidayet to take care of the problem.
The first episode happens when a child, that leaves in that house with his poor family, hits Aydin's car with a rock and consequentially breaking his car window and almost making a car accident happen. Aydin and Hidayet take the child back home, where his father is waiting. The child is soaking wet, since he had fallen in a river while trying to run way. It is here that we have a confrontation between the man who has seen his dignity and the dignity of his family taken away because of their lack of economical possibilities and the man who's basically, even if in an incidental way, the one who has taken it. This is a 5 minute dialogue, which starts very quiet, building up an unbearable tension until a climax that felt unavoidable.
That's basically what the film is all about, the movie is narratively driven by its dialogue. The film is divided into a more or less episodic series of dialogues where people ultimately lose control, let their masks fall and speak their mind, even at times more with the purpose of hurting each other, more than to have an actual argument. There's a clear contrast here between the pale, quiet beautiful natural backgrounds and the strain and hate that's being unleashed. We are talking about twenty minutes sequences of just dialogue, some may be even longer. This could have resulted in a bore but it doesn't, because we can totally relate to some of the dialogues that always feel genuine and because they are so compelling, rich and filled with several layers of development. Almost every single sequence, ultimately leads up for a quiet climax (when it comes to sound) but a catastrophic one to the characters that we are following.
Winter Sleep was far from being a bore at the theaters, the environment was fantastic, the film does have its wits, whimsical moments that often resulted in huge laughs and I thought the run- time was totally bearable, but yeah I mean it is a two hundred minute picture and I think it's safe to say that the movie extends its visit for a little too long. I had had a long day behind me and I started to feel the weight of its run-time in the last forty minutes or so. My numbing neck and aching legs probably didn't help, so I was a bit inpatient for the film's ending. I was impatient because the film was starting to lose me, the dialogues were no longer grabbing as tight and because I wanted to know in what note this film would end.
When it comes to craft, well this is pretty much spotless. Cinematography is gorgeous, some tremendous images go through the screen through its run time. It's not only well crafted when it comes to cinematography for example but also when it comes to storytelling. Narratively it's bold and engaging and it creates its own set of rules.
Winter Sleep is a film that I respect massively, I probably have to say though, that I respect it more than what I actually enjoyed it. It's a huge, colossal film that nearly owns it's two hundred minutes, even if it was way too much for my numbing back and drained energy. It's a film that will surely only be appreciated by a small amount of people, Nuri Bilge Ceylan has gained in me a follower but I don't believe he will make many friendships with main audiences who will soon discard such a long, slowly paced Turkish drama. It is a challenging film that ultimately rewards its audience with some powerful images and palpable strain. The audience in the theater seemed to be in awe, me I was simply left satisfied and with a huge respect for the piece.
Rating:B-