Avis Metacritic

Showing a keen, compassionate eye for human observation, Özge reveals how each of his character's lives is as gridlocked as the cars on the bridge.

A powerful portrait of working-class Istanbul that artfully suggests a wellspring of found moments. Quietly, steadily, it gathers a resonance belying its slice-of-life scale.

Raw yet respectful and tenderly observed.

All in all, this is a carefully modulated plea for tolerance and mutual understanding.

The result is a fascinating, if somewhat scattered, meta attempt to straddle modernism and realism, creating an aesthetic purgatory oddly similar to the film's geographical one.

If director Asli Özge has said something about modern-day Istanbul, she's done it in fairly broad strokes that may be too far apart for the sake of a discernible narrative.

Despite one or two nice moments and the naturalistic tone, it's all a bit of a slog.