Güle Güle

Zeki Okten makes a wonderful return to cinema after 11 years. Gule Gule has a heart-touching story. 5 buddies all of them over 60 unite in their homeplace island where they spent their childhood. Galip ( Metin Akpinar ) has an interesting love affair with a Cuban woman he saw her only once 35 years ago and then their only relation is letter-correspondence. Galip decides what he should have done more earlier: go to Cuba and see his life's love. But there is a small problem: money. The friends come together to help Galip and make a great plan: bank robbery. The cast is veterans of Turkish cinema, all of them act perfect in a heart-touching story. The film has been the third most watched film in the history of Turkish cinema. What to say, it deserves that.

I mention that there may be a spoiler here just to be cautious because of what I discuss, although I don't really think I am giving away anything important. Any "suprises" are really unimportant to this film's success or a viewer's ability to enjoy it.

While not without some very minor flaws, this is a beautiful and very moving film about friendship, time, uncertainty, and the choices people make about their lives. Yet, at the same time, it is also a very humorous film, with small, mostly understated bits of comedy woven in throughout. For much of the film, it progresses at a fairly leisurely pace, but it does not seem slow at all since the film draws one into it and into the lives of the characters, and at first it is mostly rather light-hearted. Some have commented that much of the film seems slow, but it is such a wonderful portrayal of the lives of such sympathetic characters that one could watch it almost endlessly. As it progresses, the film becomes more emotional and moving up to the very end and the progression is handled wonderfully.

Eventually, some of the characters decide to rob a bank and although it is perhaps somewhat hard to believe, that is beside the point. It is a wonderful addition to emphasise the love that these friends have for each other while at the same time it accents the humour and adds a little more irony to the film. And, although hardly original to have a bunch of old guys rob a bank, the context and details are quite original and they do it wonderfully, making it really quite funny as well, such as when Ismet (if I remember correctly) exaggerates his aggressiveness to "disguise" the fact he's old.

As I said, most of the other comedy is rather low-key but still very humorous so I was constantly chuckling throughout.

The actors are probably the real key to this film. They imbue the characters with deep personality and sympathy and portray them with great care and warmth. There are some small transformations or tiny details of the characters' personalities which are pulled off smoothly and beautifully. Of course, the film is about the personalities of these very characters and how they care for and interact with one another. It succeeds so well because of them and if lesser actors had the roles the movie could well have failed.

Gule Gule is not without sadness, but that simply provides the full range of emotions and provides a more powerful experience. In fact, the film is so moving and filled with so much love from such rich characters that it is in the end a very heart-warming, satisfying, and even happy film despite its sadness. I could watch it over and over.

speaking as a fan of movies, this movie is a gem.. just seeing the ensemble cast all together in a movie was a prize in itself.. or priceless as the case may be.. of course, to enjoy the ensemble, and the movie, you need to have watched many years of good and bad movies.. the plot is timeless and quite Mediterranean.. the power of friendship, love, family and the emptiness when there is a lack of those.. some viewers confuse the easy going life style in the Aegean island with the pace of the movie.. this isn't Manhattan, this is Bozcaada.. as an aside, the generational gap of the "young" and "old" generations in Turkey is quite well displayed, even before cell phones were not as prevalent as they are now.. the rest.. is a wonderful portrayal by the masters of Turkish acting of a small yet timeless story that takes the viewer right in the middle of a life among cultures, locales, and sensibilities..

It is the best movie on acting I have ever seen. All the artists are old Turkish theater actors, they are magnificent in this movie.It is sometimes said that "They do not act, they live it", you can really see this in this movie. The director is also competent, you cannot see lots of moving cameras around but the positions of the cameras are also good. But after the acting, the most outstanding part is the content of the movie. It gives happiness, enthusiasm, desire to live, importance of real friends to people. We all started to live individually nowadays, in this film you see that there are someone other then us. And most importantly, you see that the most honorable feeling in the world is love, loving your friends, loving your darling. All people should see this movie...

I know that is a weird title for comment but I think that explains my idea about this movie. It is a very good story and it seems well written screenplay. It is so interesting. There are comedy, tragedy and action in the story. However, Film is not as good as its screenplay. As a art of film making I should say that this movie has many problems. Story telling is not good scenes and narration does not draw audience's attention. Also continuity of editing is horrible cinematography is OK but it gets lost under the horrible story telling. Nevertheless performances of the actors are outstanding. I think acting and interesting story makes movie OK. If the film was directed well it would be really one of the best films of year 2000. As a result,I say, the story good but film is messy.