Once Upon a Time in Anatolia


2011 crime movie

Rating: 17/20

Plot: Policemen, a doctor, the prosecutor, and a couple of guys with shovels are taken all over the place by a pair of brothers who have committed a murder in search of the victim's body. During the adventure, the prosecutor shares a story with the doctor.

The visuals hooked me during the first forty-five minutes or so of a movie in which not all that much is happening. Actually, the appearance of the Turkish Buddy Hackett right at the beginning was enough to get me emotionally invested. This story--a police procedural where the movie's more concerned with showing characters' conversations about yogurt than anything exciting like a murder--moves about as slowly as a movie's story can move. It takes its time, and initially, you wonder if there's even any reason for the movie to move that slowly. As a person who enjoys that sort of aesthetic, I was happy anyway, but then the character development sneaked up on me. These characters grew in surprising ways, and along with the surprising bits of dark humor and the really beautiful cinematography, that made the first half of this about as exciting as a boring movie can be.

Things pick up, revelations are made by characters, and the viewer is left to decide what to make of it all. It's all wonderful, but there are three stand-out moments:

1) some sound effects near the end that I can't get into much because I wouldn't want to spoil anything but you'll know them when you hear them

2) an angel, a rare female presence in this world of men with manly problems, who serves some beverages and the way she's illuminated

3) an impossible, just miraculous rolling apple that I still can't believe I saw

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