I am usually very wary when people recommend art to me- be it a poem, a book, or a film. Usually they are in love with a certain work or artists, and are blinded to its manifest flaws because of some emotional attachment to it. It's the first poem that ever touched them, it's the first book that gave them the secret to life, or it's the first movie where a girl ever allowed them to grope her breasts without screaming. In short, most people (including critics) are simply incapable of delineating the difference between excellence and likability. Thus, it was with a twinge of skepticism that I watched Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's 1999 film Clouds of May (Mayis Sikintisi- literally May's Clouds).
Fortunately, it was the rare recommendation that was worthwhile heeding. No, it is not a great film, but considering it was only the third of five films the director has yet made, it shows potential for future greatness, albeit mainly in the cinematography- done by the director, and the effective intermittent use of a piano score that reminded me very much of Erik Satie's heavenly piano pieces. Ismail Karadas is credited as the film's sound man, and the subliminal score works well in subtly setting the film's emotional tone. The main problems with the film lay in its screenplay, also by Ceylan, and length- two interrelated disciplines. The film, originally released internationally at 117 minutes, is released on the Imaj DVD at a Director's Cut of 130 minutes. Why 13 minutes were felt needed to pad a film in great need of trimming is beyond me.
The film is basically a self-reflexive film, in which a factory worker turned wannabe filmmaker from Istanbul, Muzaffer (Muzaffer Özdemir), is using his friends and family to make a film about his rural hometown in the Anatolia region of Turkey .Despite its flaws, many of which are manifest, the film is definitely worth seeing, and I am glad that the film is not something along the lines of the dreadful Afghani film Osama, nor the Eskimo film Atanarjuat, which were made and marketed simply as the first modern films those cultures had produced, regardless of their utter artlessness. Instead, it has more in common with Krzystof Kieslowski's 1979 film Camera Buff, also about an aspiring small time filmmaker. Whereas the earlier film had more of a plot, and examined the consequences and responsibilities of a filmmaker, this film is more existential, but that's all it has more of. Kieslowski was farther along in his career as a filmmaker, and closer to his emergence as a great artist. But, Ceylan does show similar potential, if he can just master the art of effective storytelling. And by that I do not mean plot-driven hackneyed tales. He can still retain the touches of visual poesy that emerge in this film, he merely has to get better at editing out the fat that makes such moments seem rare, rather than abounding.
If he does that, he may be Turkey's answer to American filmmakers like Terrence Malick or David Gordon Green. Even with its flaws, Clouds Of May is a cut above the usual tripe Hollywood unleashes. Let's hope, as cineastes, that the influence flows from East to West, not the other way around, lest Asia Minor's budding Terrence Malick blooms into its George Lucas or Steven Spielberg, or worse- Ron Howard!
Fortunately, it was the rare recommendation that was worthwhile heeding. No, it is not a great film, but considering it was only the third of five films the director has yet made, it shows potential for future greatness, albeit mainly in the cinematography- done by the director, and the effective intermittent use of a piano score that reminded me very much of Erik Satie's heavenly piano pieces. Ismail Karadas is credited as the film's sound man, and the subliminal score works well in subtly setting the film's emotional tone. The main problems with the film lay in its screenplay, also by Ceylan, and length- two interrelated disciplines. The film, originally released internationally at 117 minutes, is released on the Imaj DVD at a Director's Cut of 130 minutes. Why 13 minutes were felt needed to pad a film in great need of trimming is beyond me.
The film is basically a self-reflexive film, in which a factory worker turned wannabe filmmaker from Istanbul, Muzaffer (Muzaffer Özdemir), is using his friends and family to make a film about his rural hometown in the Anatolia region of Turkey .Despite its flaws, many of which are manifest, the film is definitely worth seeing, and I am glad that the film is not something along the lines of the dreadful Afghani film Osama, nor the Eskimo film Atanarjuat, which were made and marketed simply as the first modern films those cultures had produced, regardless of their utter artlessness. Instead, it has more in common with Krzystof Kieslowski's 1979 film Camera Buff, also about an aspiring small time filmmaker. Whereas the earlier film had more of a plot, and examined the consequences and responsibilities of a filmmaker, this film is more existential, but that's all it has more of. Kieslowski was farther along in his career as a filmmaker, and closer to his emergence as a great artist. But, Ceylan does show similar potential, if he can just master the art of effective storytelling. And by that I do not mean plot-driven hackneyed tales. He can still retain the touches of visual poesy that emerge in this film, he merely has to get better at editing out the fat that makes such moments seem rare, rather than abounding.
If he does that, he may be Turkey's answer to American filmmakers like Terrence Malick or David Gordon Green. Even with its flaws, Clouds Of May is a cut above the usual tripe Hollywood unleashes. Let's hope, as cineastes, that the influence flows from East to West, not the other way around, lest Asia Minor's budding Terrence Malick blooms into its George Lucas or Steven Spielberg, or worse- Ron Howard!