Sarmasik

"Sarmaşık" is a little surprise, a gripping and twisting story about six men that have to stay on board a ship when the owner of the cargo ship goes bankrupt. Till the owner is found and things can be resolved, the six men will try to keep the ship clean and in good condition. The group includes the captain, an experienced sailor, a guy that works in the kitchen, a silent and very very tall guy and a couple of pot smokers... Pretty soon things turn sour.

The film is a study about solitude, the purposeless of life, the power fights between men... And it does a great job in delivering in all of those topics. The focus is clear, the direction tight and the acting helps. The characters are a little bit archetype (you know who is going to be trouble from second one) and it plays its cards with too much ambiguity (it tries to leave options open to the viewer, but sometimes it backfires). But those are minor problems, and the slow-burning pace and amazing atmosphere are the cherry on the top of a great movie, really worth checking.

This is one of the best psychological thrillers I've ever watched. The vision, use of music and sound, editing and most of all, perfection of dialogue. Creating tension step by step with characters that are so unpredictable that anything can happen at any moment! The turn, into supernatural was so natural that even the characters ignore that and kept going like everything was normal! If this movie was made in the u.s. the world was still talking about it...

although it is too hard to provide humor and dark tones in a film at the same time without creating an unwatchable Kafkaesque comedy ( we have tones of very bad examples of Cohen brothers-like screenplays even coming from themselves) , brilliant screenplay with great directing and acting make it so easy to eyes. it takes you in a roller coaster of colorful characters who welcome you at the first 10 minutes and let you become one of them, eat, starve and thrill at the same time. director and writer Tolga Karacelik has vivid style and sense of humor that are all his own and he sets his benchmarks for his future titles in this movie. must see!

Things are happening. Suspense is building. Then some loose ends unfold and the credits roll. Thanks for nothing. There are films that leave the viewer to fill in some blanks, I get it... but this movie didn't guide us toward anything less than a million possible conclusions.

This is the second Turkish movie i watch. (First one was ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA, by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2011. My rating was exactly the same, 7.2/10). I should probably watch other Turkish movies as well, seems that neighboring country has a lot to offer in World's cinema.

This is a good psychological drama/thriller. Increasingly intense as it is progressing. The biggest quality here is acting, great actors, each one of them. The whole premise overall is not that convincing/realistic but those actors made it work. You might guess a thing or two, i mean, don't expect mindblowing twists and turns. But if you like this genre, you'll like this too. Claustrophobic, good pace, well directed. There is a nice "surreal/fantasy" element but it is still a psychological thriller, with real people and their struggles. I would have rated it even higher if it had a proper ending, this was too abrupt and open for interpretation. Still, i was not disappointed. I think i know what's gonna happen after the final scene.