Climates Reviews

* * * This review contains spoilers * * *ShowHide

[Highly rated reviewer]

Climates

Isa (Nuri Ceylan) and his younger girlfriend Bahar (Ceylan's real life wife Erbu) are on holiday when Isa suggests they go seperate ways for a while. Bahar agrees and Isa returns to Istanbul alone. We follow him in his single life.

I won't say more than that lest I spoil what, in Climates, passes for a plot. Frankly though if you want to discover the rest after this review then I will have failed. I thought Babel was dull. I thought Pavee Lackeen was the most tedious experience a cinema could offer me. I shan't take back what I said about those films (I was right) but both look like the most engaging experiences in the world next to Climates.

Nuri Blige Ceylan's film is, put simply, the most mind-pulverisingly tedious experience you are likely to have all year. Time will appear to fold back in on itself as you watch, creating for your pleasure a seemingly endless hellspace of event free, dialogue free shots of nothing important happening for what seems like an eternity. It will be responsible for several religious conversions as audiences pray to God, Buddha, Allah, whoever to PLEASE make it end.

I'll give Ceylan this. Both he and his wife can act. Erbu Ceylan even threatens to be affecting at times and in a movie where I gave even half a crap what happened to her I imagine she'd be teriffic.

The tedium, however, staggeringly, is not the film's biggest problem. Isa is clearly our hero so what happens midway through the movie? He rapes an old girlfriend. He's still our hero thereafter... the woman even calls him later in the film. I didn't like the guy before but I can't root for a rapist. I want to see him get hurt, not go through his loneliness with him. This putrid development turned my mood from not really caring about this piece of excrement to actively hating it's guts.

So, a boring piece of filth that asks us to sympathise with and root for a rapist. To Hell with this movie.

Nicely Observed

I rented Climates after watching the terrific Ukaz, an earlier film by director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and although for me this didn't quite live up to that, it still has qualities above and bejond a lot of films out there. It's certainly a family affair here, with the director, his wife and his parents all having roles in the film. Both he and his wife are excellent, delivering very subtle and surprisingly deep performances. Don't listen to another reviewer who apparently thinks the lead is a hero and that the film is trying to make us sympathize with him for raping his ex-girlfriend !?! For a start, not all films have heros, some are merely a study of human behaviour, and for seconds, maybe the ex-girlfriend liked it rough - after all, she let him back didn't she? Either way, it does not mean we have to sympathize or root for him. It's meant to provoke a reaction, and that it does.

Feel the Weather

Ceylan's scenes of cinematic beauty with a strong sense of texture and composition, add a sense of presence to his with sensitive observation of character and relationship dynamics. Strong emotional, sexual and psychological traits handled without ever resorting to cliches or over dramatisation. Very mature piece of work with a relaxed but purposeful pacing. Recommended for all non-action fans.

Only if there is nothing else

I promised I would give this 15mins. In the event after 20 mins I waved a white flag. Self indulgent, boring and badly filmed.

Not as good as I had thought it would be

I was quite disappointed by this film - I was looking forward to seeing it and felt it was incredibly slow and the lead female was a bit of a bizarre character - It just didnt seem to jell for me - Plus by the end, I didnt really see the point as nothing seemed to have happened?

[Highly rated reviewer]

Well............

No go if you are looking for a story and some action. Holds the attention because of the wonderful camera work and the very natural acting. Lacks humour. The special feature facility was more entertaining as the stars came to life whilst doing the actual filming!

Awful

Boring. Tedious. Dull. Unimaginative.

Not as good as Uzak but certainly worth seeing

As with Uzak, Ceylan's earlier film to have a general release outside of Turkey, this is a low key, beautifully shot film that tells its story largely through detail and images. The story is simple but to say nothing happens demonstrates an inability to pay enough attention to the subtleties of work like this. Yes, the main character behaves appallingly throughout the film, but some of his emotional states and desires will be familiar to many of us. He is not the 'hero' in the conventional sense (this isn't Indiana Jones), but a deeply flawed protagonist. I think this film missed some of the humour that peppered Uzak and that's one of the reasons I generally didn't think it was as strong but it is worth seeing if you want to see something that about real human relationships rather than cardboard cut-out stereotypes.

DULL

Please refere to heading!

A breath of fresh air

WOW

excellent sound and beautiful cinematography, the acting is superb i mean what more can one ask for in a motion picture this is cinematic gold. I still get thta warm fuzzy feeling everytime i think of it. In a perfect world all movies would be like this