Time to Love

Erksan's Sevmek Zamani expresses its story in a two-folded plane.First, a strict realism in the search for specific (but global at the same time) identity problem of Turkish people is investigated: Occident or Orient, the chaotic battle of these two different identity-construction choices. Second, through this separation, the movie shows us two perceptions of LOVE: An urbanized, modern female singer(Sema Ozcan) wanting to be with the guy (Musfik Kenter)who is in love with her poster on the one hand. On the other, the (Oriental) guy refusing this famous singer. The guy says:"I'm in love only and only with your poster". The fetish and the sublime! That Love turns to be some kind of Sufistic way of perceiving the world. The Magnificient scene of boat-tripping with the poster must be seen!

This is the first film from the 60s that ive seen. I am really impressed by the style of this film and the attention to detail in the faces and the landscape alike. The constant rain in an island off the coast of Turkey is a perfect setting for this tale about a prideful painter who falls in love with a painting of a woman whose house hes working on. He says he fell in love with the picture and not the woman. In a way hes describing the kind of love that many people fall victim. Wanting to feel safe knowing that your beloved wont judge you as long you never engage in any love that is never certain. It's beautiful, romantic, full of longing. The male performance was kind of wooden but the rest of the cast makes up for it. Especially the woman who is luminous , especially against the landscape. This film breathes so beautifully like few films to. The pacing is gorgeous, the cinematography is captivating, the images tell the story like real cinema can.

Take a knock-off Marcelo Mastroianni, except wooden as an actor, add a storyline that invests the two adult principal characters with the emotional intelligence of starry-eyed pre-teenagers, punch it up with a desperately over-the-top soundtrack and whaddaya get? A romantic flick that's so bad it borders on camp. Filmed in gorgeous b&w, with more pathetic fallacy than a human can tolerate-constant rain, tossing waves, whipping winds-not to mention the scene with three women running through the woods in high heels! Hilarious.

Supposedly worshipped by film aficionados, you're better off watching this on mute with no subtitles.

Directing: 6 /Acting: 7 /Story: 6 /Production values: 6 /Suspence - Thriller level: 3 /Action: 3 /Mystery - unknown: 7 /Romance level: 10 /Comedy elements: none

10/10. I admit I'm no Turkish cinema expert since they only cover 2,4% of all movies I've seen. I could easily say Nordic movies which covers more than 10% in my list, have better concerns for my cinema cause. Having these fun-facts, I'd never imagine a Turkish director would be the person who shot the closest thing as in Ingmar Bergman's style.

Another fact: Persona: 66', Sevmek Zamanı:65'

The difference between "cold/liberal Northern European culture" and "a culture which is heavily exposed agitated stories of arabesque style" referred to Turkish people might have seem major. But not in this surreal movie composed by the beautiful elements of experimental cinema and Rembet music. Great camera-work definitely helps Sevmek Zamanı to create a category in my taste as the most beautiful cult movie of my homelands