Azizler

Lets be honest, you are all asking yourselves what did I watch? How were these actors cast in this, and who funded it?

But first some backstory... This film was the first writing credit for the Taylan brothers, and they unapologetically gave us an avant-garde Turkish character study. In Turkey there are two types of stories; the traditional 3 act structure that most of us are used to called the "Olay Oykusu" OR the character study / "glimpse into the life of" pieces that have a very thin plot, and spend more time on character, called "Durum Oykusu". Azizler my friends, is the latter, a story where we glimpse into the ridiculous and unbelievable lives of our protagonists. Although this version of storytelling is dominant in biographical stories (Roma, Kaybedenler Kulubu) it is rare to see this format in a minimalistically fantastical world - and lets all be honest, it was too bizarre. As for our actors, this type of story is where they truly get to flex their acting muscles since the movie depends on it and they have quite the range to do what they want.

Since this is the first writing piece from the Taylan brothers, one can assume that they are still fine tuning their skills and that they have more to grow. Thankfully Netflix has enough cash to throw at them, probably for the sake of creating a relationship and I assume gave them final cut. This resulted in a 6/10 film that was too off the beaten path for its own good. Will you like this film if you don't watch award films? No. Will you watch this because it is all the A-listers best work? Probably not. Should you get baked before watching this? Absolutely... But what did you expect - actually though what did you expect?

If you watch this movie, you should do so for the views and so that Netflix spends more money in Turkey. Maybe if enough of us watch these Turkish films, Netflix might greenlight a "Roma" of our own.

Going in blind, I quite enjoyed this movie. Sure, it has it's shortcomings but no way near the hate it's getting here. I don't think this movie was intended for Turkish audiences, who are very vanilla most of the time when it comes to any form of art. I don't know what this movie claimed to be during the advertising period but if you watch it expecting a "normie" comedy, you'll be disappointed. That exact reason is why I enjoyed it. It can be called dark comedy-ish I guess, labels don't matter to me. The art direction was quite beautiful and the acting was decent, as expected from a cast of veteran actors. Comparing this to the dumpster fire that was Leyla Everlasting is a blasphemy.

After a long while of underrated comedy domination, Turkey Cinema presents a successfull comedy work deserving to be appreciated.

(In recent years, very few numbers of good comedy examples have been relaesed, like Ali Atay's movies among which "Limonata" subjectively looks more exclusive.)

The audience is invited, by Taylan Brothers, to a dark-comedic story which comprises sensitive ironical views based on satirical sub-texts on;

-. Fixed and monotype human relations,

-. Childhood roots on which patriarchal manners are instructured,

-. Screen addiction,

-. Failure of both the individual and the society etc...

Except some scenario faults, the movie staged a stronge sense through its dramatic tone and visual narration skills.

A very good example of general decline on cinema quality after streaming. Above average casting and role playing below average story and directing. What the hell was that. Supposed to be funny, supposed to be romantic. Below expectations

The expectations were quite high for this movie since the writers, directors and cast are all well-known names with a good reputation in the Turkish movie industry. However, the expectations weren't met and this affected the experience badly beyond the actual quality of the movie.

In fact, this movie is a nice drama. And if it were a pure drama instead of trying to be an (absurd) comedy at the same time, I think it would be a great movie. Even though making a good drama movie should be harder than making a comedy movie; failing in comedy is also easier and as simple as failing to make people laugh. Unfortunately, Azizler(Turkish) or Stuck Apart failed on that for the most part. Besides, absurdity in this movie felt over the top and unnecessary. One might say that this over the top absurdity harmed the comedy further or even the succeeded drama. All in all, these factors contributed to the fact that absurd comedy and drama didn't match well for this one.

Whereas the drama around "loneliness" was pretty solid. We have characters with different types of problems with loneliness and this contrast gives a nice depth to the story. The acting overall was pretty good too, as expected. Engin Gunaydin as the leading role was flawless. Haluk Bilginer was also great as "Erbil". I truly liked Erbil and his character background was beautiful.

In conclusion, if you remove or ignore the discordant absurd comedy parts, you will have a well-done drama. So I think this movie still worth a watch. But as a drama rather than a comedy.