Deniz Celiloğlu

Merve Dizdar

Musab Ekici

Ece Bağcı

Erdem Şenocak

Yüksel Aksu

Münir Can Cindoruk

Onur Berk Arslanoğlu

Yıldırım Gücük

Cengiz Bozkurt

S. Emrah Özdemir

Elif Ürse

Elit Andaç Çam

Nalan Kuruçim

Ferhat Akgün

Eylem Canpolat

Kürşat Üresin

Cevahir Şahin

Alexandre Mallet-Guy

Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Akın Aksu

Pınar Gök

Oguz Atabas

Mediha Didem Türemen

Jean-Pierre Laforce

Janine Jackowski

Maren Ade

Gülsah Yüksel

Clément Laforce

Sébastien Beffa

Fatih Yücel

Nuriye Gündoğdu

Begüm Aydın

Nadir Öperli

Meral Aktan

Fazlı Balcı

Jonas Dornbach

Giuseppe Verdi

Nur Morkoç

Kristina Börjeson

Anthony Muir

Fatih Aydoğdu

Olivier Père

Rémi Burah

Carlos Gerstenhauer

Mehmet Zahid Sobacı

Bettina Ricklefs

Melisa Bodur

Orhan Gençal

Zeki Güneş

Yıldız Aşanboğa

Ayaz Ceylan

Okay Temel

Serkan Darende

Hüseyin Özhamam

Ercan Kiraz

Barış Yıldırım

Alper Doğruer

Ömer Sarı

Kenan Şahin

Ezgi Paltun

Begüm Tabak

Eray Temiz

Yasin Akin

Mehmet Ali Alparslan Gönül

Sevim Korhan

Harun Özübelli

Cansu Tabak

Yasin Tan

Ahmet Şahin

Zeynel Demirhan

Pascal Chauvin

Ebru Ceylan

Philip Timofeyev

Drama

Kuru Otlar Üstüne

NBC Film

Memento Films Production

Komplizen Film

Second Land

Film i Väst

ARTE France Cinéma

Playtime

TRT 12 PUNTO

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About Dry Grasses

powerful

Lachlan Thiele

INT. BEST SURPRISE OF THE FESTIVAL - DAY

When I heard the concept of the film, I'll be honest I wasn't that interested. 

> A young teacher hopes to be appointed to Istanbul after mandatory duty at a small village. After long time waiting he loses all hope of escaping from this gloomy life. However, his colleague Nuray helps him to regain a perspective.

But, a moment in this film made me realise I was watching cinema. Thank you, Turkey, for this film. It was a treat! Now time to tally all the times someone called it 'About Dry Glasses.' 

2 Hours of gripping drama, the final hour is happy hour from the director.

FADE OUT.

Masterpiece is the only word for this film.  Nominated for the 2023 Palm D'Or, Nuri Bilge Ceylan has created an extraordinary film set in the snowy mountains of Turkey.  The film explores life in an elementary school in a small village, and the lives of some of the teachers and kids.  Sounds innocuous, right? Well, this may be the most powerful study of evil I have ever seen.  There's no blood. No onscreen violence. It's all exposed through subtle dialog, spaces between words, and is a deep study of manipulation and power.  I'm amazed that Nuri Bilge Ceylan's films win all the film prizes in Turkey given how repressive their regime is. But what he is able to do - as all Master filmmakers do when living in this kind of world - is to translate the world of evil from the halls of government to hallways of a children's school.  When evil is expressed quietly and those who could stop it stand aside, the results are devastating to the victims.

When Master filmmakers live under repressive regimes, they cannot openly criticize the government that requires silence.  Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan tells stories set in small villages, and in this case, in an elementary school.  But his examination of evil may be the most profound I have ever seen.  In this film, evil is not shown committing bloody violence, but using subtle language and actions to destroy people, including children.  The film explores how those who would destroy are protected by those who do not have the will to stand up to that evil, even when they can see it clearly.  In this film, no one is capable of protecting the victims, many of whom are not even aware of the trauma they are experiencing.  Brilliant. Do not miss.

Official UK Trailer [Subtitled]

Official Clip

Nuri Bilge Ceylan on About Dry Grasses

Official US Trailer [Subtitled]

About Dry Grasses( 2023)

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A review by Lachlan Thiele

Written by Lachlan Thiele on Sun May 28 2023

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