ABOUT DRY GRASSES
I am sure many of you have just read the title of my biggest disappointment of 2023 and gone “WHAT??!!??”. Yes, I understand how loved “About Dry Grasses” is, and that it currently has a score of 8.1 on imdb, but this has more to do with a film not living up to expectations rather than it being a bad film of any kind.
I am a very big fan of Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and it is always an event whenever he releases a new film. His previous film “The Wild Pear Tree”, I thought, was outstanding and it featured highly on my top ten of that year. Although it didn't make it on to my “official” most anticipated list of 2023, there was no doubt that “About Dry Grasses” was one that I was looking forward to greatly, and was very excited when it was announced (as expected) to be playing at this year's MIFF. From memory, the first trailer for the film had been already released (or happened very soon after the MIFF announcement), and just on the images displayed and mood conveyed in that trailer, it looked as if Nuri Bilge Ceylan had another masterpiece on his hands. The film looked stunning!
And the movie played out just like that, as I was watching it. I remember consciously thinking “Man, how great is this! This is going to be another classic”, during my screening, as I was particularly impressed by Ceylan's handle of both tone and pace, and the way he never seemed rushed to tell his story. He gives us time to meet all the characters, become familiar with the landscape of the town where the story takes place, before the actual drama of the story begins. It had a very un-Hollywood feel to it, and I was loving every second of “About Dry Grasses”. As mentioned above, I am very familiar with Ceylan's films previous, so his slow and dialogue heavy style was something I was anticipating, nor did I see it as any sort of negative in regards to enjoying “About Dry Grasses”. The same goes for the extended running time, I was well prepared for the 3 hour and seventeen minute running time (it's Ceylan's longest film to date), and like I mentioned above, I was with the film totally and loving every second of it.........until I wasn't. There is a very long scene, about halfway through the film, that takes place between the characters of Samet and Nuray, set essentially just around a kitchen table, where the two characters talk about their personal philosophies about life and just how they see the world and the fairness within the world. It is a very, very long scene (I wouldn't be surprised if it was at least twenty minutes long), but it totally took me out of the film because I found the character of Samet insufferable and incredibly selfish after his rant, that I lost all empathy towards him and his ordeal throughout the film. He isn't the most likeable character from the outset but by the end of this scene, I thoroughly disliked him, and particularly the way he treated his “friend” Nuray during this conversation. From this moment on in “About Dry Grasses”, I found myself distracted and disturbed by Samet, and as such kept finding myself outside of the film, trying to locate an entry point to enter within it again, and enjoy it once more, which I struggled to do. I was shattered by this too, because of just how much I was enjoying the film before this scene and with it being so good up until then, that I was expecting to rate it as a masterpiece. Now I understand that all of this has to do with my own personal baggage and beliefs that I have brought to the film, so it is not the fault of Nuri Bilge Ceylan in any way, but I reacted differently to the film from this scene onward.
Until now, I haven't even mentioned the plot of “About Dry Grasses”, which is about Samet, who is a teacher in the fourth year of his compulsory service in a remote village of Anatolia, looking to the future and finally being transferred back to the city, when his world is turned upside down after he is accused by two teenage students of inappropriate touching. He is floored by the accusations, and makes little sense of them, particularly when he finds out that the two girls who accused him are those he has a fantastic teaching relationship with (or so he thought). He denies any wrongdoing, and maintains his innocence throughout, but the weight of the accusations hang heavy on him, as he starts to think he will never be able to escape the grim life he is living in this tiny village. Samet then meets Nuray, who is also a teacher (and someone who has the right to feel aggrieved by the world), and he has the chance to find meaning and hope in his life (and occupation) once more, but will he be open enough to take that chance?
As you can see, there is a lot in the film, and for the most part, “About Dry Grasses” is very well done. It is actually based on a real-life incident of Akin Aksu, who co-wrote the screenplay with Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and his wife Ebru Ceylan, back when he was a teacher himself. I think it is a fantastic script, with a lot of depth, tackling a lot of different (and difficult) topics and themes in an intelligent manner. The acting is all superb, with a special shout-out to Merve Dizdar who is outstanding as Nuray. I wasn't as thrilled by the cinematography by Cevahir Sahin and Kursat Uresin which, whilst you would never call bad or uninteresting, I just didn't find it as sharp or as impressive as the cinematography of Gokhan Tiryaki, Ceylan's regular cinematographer since “Climates” in 2006. Do not get me wrong, “About Dry Grasses” is not a bad film, not even by a long shot, but when I left my screening I was absolutely shattered that I did not fall in love with the film completely, as it appeared like the majority of the people did who attended my screening. Again, I had a conscious thought where I couldn't believe how disappointed I was, particularly after the way I was feeling about the film around the half way mark, where I thought it would challenge my top two or three films of the year! So yeah, whilst I understand that this is a strange one for “Biggest Disappointment” of the year, it was actually what I felt coming out of the film; it disappointed me “in film”, from how great I found it initially to where my opinion of it ended up; I was devastated. Sadly, I have not had the chance to re-watch the film since MIFF, but I really do look forward to a second viewing in the hope that I see the film in a different light and it becomes the masterpiece I thought it was at the half way point.
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