A man stands on a balcony in Istanbul as a storm breaks over the Bosporus: a still from the stunning final sequence of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s latest film, Three Monkeys, seen tonight. This is another atmospheric film from the director of Climates and Distant, two of the greatest films of the last decade. Once again, his background as a photographer infuses results in painterly compositions that resonate in the mind long after the film has ended. Istanbul locations such as the apartment block where the three main protagonists live are as dramatically rendered as his panoramic photos of the city, and the final sequence is beautifully photographed with shafts of light breaking from an overcast sky and rain illuminated as the storm breaks over Istanbul.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan deservedly won Best Director award at Cannes in 2008 for Three Monkeys. It’s psychologically-intense, with convincing performances and excellent sound and cinematography. Certain passages – particularly the ghost sequences – recall Tarkovsky. Ceylan made his international mark with the 2002 feature Uzak (Distant), about a disillusioned Istanbul photographer; his follow-up, Climates (2006), was a painfully intimate drama about a couple splitting up, all the more uncomfortable because the leads were played by Ceylan and his wife, Ebru Ceylan.
Nuri Bilge Ceylan is quietly becoming a major force in European cinema.
– Independent
Three Monkeys trailer
Nuri Bilge Ceylan: filmography
With only four feature films to his credit, Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has emerged as one of the masters of contemporary cinema. Trained as a photographer, Ceylan has gained international acclaim (including citations at the Cannes Film Festival for both Distant and Climates) for intent, observational works which beautifully capture the details of everyday life in exquisitely composed shots. Working in a minimalist style, Ceylan often relies on nonprofessional actors-including members of his own family-to perform in his films, which have been praised for their naturalistic qualities.
Source: Harvard Film Archive
Cocoon (Koza) 1995: 20 min, no dialogue. An older couple (played by Ceylan’s parents) live separately as a result of their painful past. When they reunite, their meeting does not go as planned. Extra feature on the Uzak DVD.
The Small Town (Kasaba) 1997: With Mehmet Emin Toprak, Fatma Ceylan, Mehmet Emin Ceylan. Turkish with English subtitles. Told from the perspective of two children, and in four parts which run parallel to the seasons, The Small Town describes relationships between members of a Turkish family as brother and sister encounter the darkness and mysteries of social life, nature, and the adult world. Based on an autobiographical story by the director’s sister Emine Ceylan, The Small Town is “a remarkable first feature. . . a strikingly original, vibrantly sensitive portrait of an extended family living in a remote Aegean village” (Variety).
Clouds of May (Mayis Sikintisi) 1999: With Mehmet Emin Ceylan, Muzzafer özdemir, Fatma Ceylan. Turkish with English subtitles. Clouds of May tells the story of Muzaffer, who returns to his native town to make a movie and sets about recruiting family and friends to work in the film. Meanwhile his father is bent on saving the small forest on his property from confiscation and his cousin, a young town dweller whose efforts seem doomed to failure, dreams of going to Istanbul. Clouds of May is told with subtle comedy and charm, and inscribed with beauty and a reverence for the lives of its characters.
Distant (Uzak) 2003: With Muzaffer Özdemir, Mehmet Emin Toprak, Zuhal Gencer Turkish with English subtitles. Mahmut is a commercial photographer who has been struggling to come to terms with the growing gap between his artistic ideals and his professional obligations.
As he clings to the melancholic and obsessive routines of his solitary life, Mahmut’s distant relative arrives in Istanbul. As the two men struggle to make a connection, the film’s elegant cinematography and deeply pensive tone confirm “the emerging talent of Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan” (Variety).
Climates (Iklimler) 2006: 97 min. With Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Nazan Kesal. Turkish with English subtitles. Hailed as “the only masterpiece of the [2006 Cannes] festival” by the New York Foundation for the Arts, Climates is the story of a searing relationship between a man and a woman (played by the director and his wife, Ebru Ceylan) that becomes a psychological portrait of an insecure man.
At the close of her rave review, New York Times critic Manohla Dargis compares Ceylan to Michelangelo Antonioni, commenting that “while [Ceylan’s] films are similarly personal, they’re more accessible… The mysteries of his work are those of the heart, the head, the soul.”
That's How The Light Gets In 