You may have seen this film at the London Film Festival and really liked it, as i did. You may also feel, as I do, that the title could have been something that did not reference those Sergio Leone films.
Yet it doesn’t really matter that the title does reference those films (unless Once Upon A Time In Anatolia is much better) because it is doubtful that anyone will stumble into this work unawares.
After all, it is 158 mins: a serious investment of time if one has no notion that it is an arthouse film. Anyone with the hope of seeing a similar production to Once Upon A Time In America will however not be disappointed to find a similarly relaxed timescale.
That hypothetical arthouse enjoying cinemagoer might also be amenable to four acts of, say, Chekhov’s Three Sisters, and not be mentally fidgeting about where the story was (This film put me in mind of him and I later learned by studying the poster review quotes for the film that others had been similarly reminded).
Nuri Bilge Ceylan has built a beautiful piece of cinema: each shot has been lovingly conceived and is perfectly lit. I could not fault the whole piece from the unfolding of each scene to the variations in pace; time itself seems almost illusory at times (and, no, I didn’t look at my watch once!).
Look for women in this film and you will scarcely find them, but it has an unexpected epiphany at its heart in a figure which some of the characters behold as an angel (in the form of a young girl). The expressions of those who see her speak volumes.
The police chief (Yilmaz Erdogan), the doctor (Muhammet Uzuner) and the prosecutor (Taner Birsel) are all compellingly depicted, particularly the latter two, who, when there is extended dialogue, have much to say to each other, which sets them – and us – thinking.
What you will see with Once Upon a Time In Anatolia is a sometimes tortured process laid bare, easily relatable to the prosecutor, the doctor and its effects on them. I’ve seen those tortured interactions, but, when I can fit in another screening, I’m going to go back for seconds.
Anthony has awarded Once Upon a Time In Anatolia five torches of truth
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I am planning a date to see this on Thursday (Maundy Thursday) afternoon – maybe see you there…?
Ap.
Well, it turned out to be at a different time, but Anatolia, on my own measure of Does it Stand Up to a Second Viewing, definitely did – more on my blog!