Nuri Bilge Ceylan Films I watched in Amsterdam
About Dry Grasses (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2023)
In addition to the watching David Lynch films at Eye in Amsterdam earlier this month, I also watched films from the Nuri Ceylan Bilge retrospective, part of the his Inner Landscapes exhibition and film programme which started on January 18 and ends on June 1.
I couldn’t have picked a better month to watch his films, the cold winter landscape of Turkey featured in many of his films somewhat matched the cold temperatures in Amsterdam and were perfect to watch on cold days and nights.
I watched the following films during the week I was there:
Koza / Cocoon (1995)
Kasaba / The Small Town (1997)
Uzak / Distant (2002)
Iklimer / Climates (2006)
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)
The Wild Pear Tree (2018)
Three Monkeys (2008) and Winter Sleep (2014) also screened that week but with Dutch subtitles only, so sadly I had to skip them.
All were first time viewing except for The Wild Pear Tree which I had seen before (I’ve also previously seen Winter Sleep and his latest About Dry Grasses).
I hope to find another opportunity to write more about the films I watched, but for now I’ll just share these thoughts.
Ceylan’s films are layered with meanings, some remain a mystery, but overall they are all about the human condition and an overwhelming sense of melancholy and isolation. They are also about how men behave with other men, women, and how they are when alone. But also how the women in his film suffer from similar isolation and melancholy, but because of societal pressures feel even more trapped compared to the men.
As for the exhibition, it was mainly a paring of Ceylan’s photography series Turkey CinemaScope and his filmography. There were a few small screens showing clips of interviews with him and behind the scene footage for some of his films.
I was hoping for an exhibition that dug deeper into his works. I noticed repeated occurrences in his films and I imagined would be great as stand alone clips, or even a commissioned film essay to highlight them - scenes featuring snow, wind, close up of faces, windows, TV screens, to name a few.
His films are contemplative and I kept wondering what more can/should be done in an exhibition space besides showing clips from his filmography.
From the interview clips, I learned that writing is the hardest part for Ceylan, which made me wonder if his wife Ebru Ceylan and writing collaborator (also acted in Uzak and Iklimir) has more of an influence in shaping the film scripts.
I also learned Ceylan prefers the editing stage of filmmaking because he usually does that alone. He’s also not a fan of having a big crew whilst filming.
Some of his responses in the interviews that stayed with me:
“I feel very alone in the world all the time, wherever I am. It’s independent of place or time. And this feeling is quite dominant in me, ever since I was young. I’m trying to understand it, to make peace with it. I’m trying to control it.”
“The possibilities filmmaking offers us exceed the intellect. This allows us to access powers and forces that go far beyond that.”
He also looked hot as a young man.
These are images from the exhibition, courtesy of Eye Filmmuseum.
These are four photos from the Turkey CinemaScope series, courtesy of Dirimart:
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Boğaz'da Gemiler/Ships in the Bosphorus, İstanbul, 2004
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Banliyö Treni/Suburban Train, İstanbul, 2004
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Yol Kenarında İki Adam/Two Men by the Road, Ağrı, 2005
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ağrı'da Gençler/Young Men in Ağrı, 2005
I also learned Nuri Bilge Ceylan has a website - https://www.nuribilgeceylan.com that features all of his works and relevant links, unusual for film directors of his stature.