This beautiful Turkish film is set in a remote community sandwiched between mountains and sea, where a clutch of classmates wrestle with the frustrations of childhood. Young Omer (Ozkan Ozen) seethes with murderous resentment for his authoritarian father; his best friend Yakup (Ali Bey Kayali) is besotted with his schoolteacher; and Yildiz (Elit Iscan) tries to care for his baby bro, but just can’t stop nodding off in the undergrowth. We’ve seen this kind of picturesque rural drama before, but director Reha Erdem still hews a rich poetry from the material. The story’s elegantly structured around the five daily calls-to-prayer given from a parapet with stunning views. Meanwhile, the characters are trailed with Steadicam shots so sinuous that we too start to feel we know our way around the village.
NOVERDICT
