Sen Aydinlatirsin Geceyi

Watched the movie in BIFFES 2013 (bangalore international film festival). The sheer brilliance of this fantasy movie can be credited to director, cinematographer and music director. The black and white medium of this fantasy movie adds more to its glory. This movie is not everybody's cup of tea, I Saw people walking out in middle or abruptly during screening. Mreyte ya mreyte (caramel) by Racha Rizk is mesmerizing and adds significantly to the viewing pleasure. The synopsis is given, so i wont go in detail about the story. The climax scene is wonderfully crafted and the performance by almost all the actors are excellent. Some scenes may seem violent, thats the only thing hard to over come. Watch it if you get a chance and you love fantasy movies, where a world has two moons and two suns with superhero kind of characters, yet lead a very ordinary life.

We just saw this movie at Cinequest 2014 in San Jose, California. It's a difficult movie and will be impenetrable for many. It seems to take place in a very Earth-like town but there are multiple moons in the sky and many residents have special powers. However, the residents all have Earth-like woes. The main character, Cemal, has a lot of woes. His mother and siblings died long ago in a fire. He lives with his dad and the two work in a barber shop. Cemal can see through and walk through walls but he spends most of his time in the movie wondering why he exists (and whether we exist at all) and what would have happened if we'd never existed.

As a result of Cemal living mostly in his own head, he has a series of misadventures over the period of a few weeks. The movie explains some but mostly it leaves you to fill in the gaps.

This movie is a visual poem on existence. The movie's title is a line in one of Shakespeare's sonnets, which starts:

"How can I then return in happy plight, That am debarred the benefit of rest? When day's oppression is not eas'd by night, But day by night and night by day oppress'd."

The sonnet plays a minor role in the movie, but those four lines from The Bard's poem explain the movie's nearly unexplainable plot.

This movie will be much easier to assimilate for people with a science fiction bent.

"There used to be a bird you shot, right? It's not there anymore, is it?" Cemal says. What would have happened if we had never existed? What would change? Does our existence in this world mean anything or should it? Philosophical questions abound in this movie. While watching Cemal, the audience feels as if they are being abstracted from their surroundings and constantly residing in the realm of thoughts as if they were Cemal himself. Superheroes have superpowers. But these superpowers don't create characters who live without worries or as if they've come to this world to have fun. Cemal has a concern, and this concern doesn't seem like it can be resolved with superpowers. These concerns are related to very basic things, the existence of life. This concern is about love and the delicate balance of love.

Cemal is a very contemplative and thoughtful character. His thoughtfulness is constantly reflected as worry to himself. He doubts small things, experiences his emotions. He is a person "created from worry." These worries push him towards inquiries that will develop him as a human while also causing him to engage in behaviors he does not want and will regret. He beats the woman he loves (Yasemin). Then he reads her poetry. Cemal is confused, his actions are contradictory. Just like all of us. Even if he could see inside the walls and pass through them, he would not be able to overcome the emotional wall with Yasemin, drowned in his worries and obsessions, which have taken over his entire life.

The cinematography of the film is important in understanding the characters' inner worlds. Cemal's scenes shot with a fixed camera show his eyes and what's behind them to the audience. The poetry scene on the balcony is a nod to Romeo and Juliet. Cemal, the guilty lover trying to win his wife's heart, reads poetry to her. Light shines on his face as if it is from Yasemin, her light giving meaning to his life, he can't do it without her, but his worries are also visible on his face. Cemal stands below the balcony, looking at Yasemin as if she were a goddess. A goddess he can never reach, a goddess who will "definitely" betray him or leave him.

Don't we all have a bit of Cemal in us, after all? Cemal "lives in the church in our ribs."

This is certainly not an easy film. With a metaphorical language that often borders on surrealism, the viewer is faced with a permanent challenge to distinguish the real from the figurative, or even imaginary, although in the end, the essential message of the film is transparent, with relative clarity.

There is a violent denunciation of a hypocritical and sexist morality, which attacks women's sexual freedom. Men abuse their power, to use women sexually and then repudiate them, due to the alleged indignity of behavior, for which they were mainly responsible.

All this is presented with great creative freedom, fantasy and emphasis on violence, used deliberately to symbolize the violence that Turkish sexist society exerts on women, especially in smaller and traditional towns.

Eloquent but difficult. It is certainly not a film for all tastes, even the most cultivated.

This one had a high rating so i was expecting it's good but it was even better than i expected. Of course, it's not for anyone. It works at many levels, one might think this is surreal and bizarre, but i think it's multilayered. It's more of symbolic/allegorical than surreal. There is depth here, it's a meaningful movie, daring and provocative. At times, it was even brilliant, i stood in awe watching some amazing scenes. It's obviously that the director & writer of this movie is intellectual but this is not some kind of artsy and pretentious movie. There is a strong fantasy element but simultaneously, it's grounded in reality.

A fragile and deeply flawed person and the struggles he faces in his life, after a tragic incident occured. A village so real and so magical simultaneously. Acts of violence, acts of love, tragedy and hope, mistakes and forgiveness.

Be patient at the beginning, this didn't start great but it was getting better by the minute.

A great (comedy?)/drama/fantasy movie.