ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA / BIR ZAMANLAR ANADOLU'DA

Life in a small town is akin to journeying in the middle of the steppes: the sense that "something new and different" will spring up behind every hill, but always unerringly similar, tapering, vanishing or lingering monotonous roads...

"For, in Anton Chekhov's spirit, which is hovering all over this picture, it is not to the plot itself one should pay attention, but to the countless, presumably irrelevant details strewn along the way, throwing a light not only on the crime itself and the motives which led to it. In particular the characters who had been gathered for the occasion, each one of them far deeper and more affecting than their banal appearance would seem to indicate.The outcome is fascinating, not only on a personal level, but also as a profoundly perceptive portrait of the Turkish multi-leveled culture and society. Then there is Ceylan's eye for lighting and framing, whether in still life portraits or nature frescoes, which has been evident all through his earlier films. The structure of his images is no less than striking, his use of the Anatolian landscape, breathtaking with the obscurity reigning over the first half helping to enhance his particular talent for lighting interiors, and even more, human faces.This is not just consummate cinematography, though of course it is, but the kind of creative, painterly talent echoed in all of Ceylan work as a still photographer. His entire cast blends naturally inside these perfectly limned portraits, most of them are professional actors but look like real people, not stars, though Taner Birsel jokes at one point at his vague resemblance to Clark Gable."

Dan Fainaru, Screen International