Manslaughter, infidelity, abuse, outrage -- Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's new film "Three Monkeys" tells the story of a family who endures it all. But while he has all the ingredients for a suspenseful thriller, Ceylan waters the film down, leaving us with a sluggish, uninteresting drama.
It all starts with Servet (Ercan Kesal), a politician, who, half-asleep at the wheel, strikes a pedestrian on the eve of the elections. Desperate, he meets with his chauffeur, Eyup (Yavuz Bingol), and persuades him to take the rap in exchange for a large sum of money. Eyup agrees and is sent to jail, leaving his wife, Hacer (Hatice Aslan), and his teenage son, Ismail (Ahmet Rifat Sungar), to lounge around at home without him.
And lounge they do. Ismail spends his days either sleeping or hanging around with neighborhood kids who are up to no good. Hacer soon begins an affair with the blame-skirting Servet. Ismail's suspicions of his mother's infidelity and Eyup's eventual release from jail push the family's tensions to a boiling point.
"Three Monkeys," which won Ceylan a best director award at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, is told with remarkable cinematography -- every scene seems to reflect the somber mood of the characters, every long take looks like a brooding painting.
- Starring: Yavuz Bingol, Hatice Aslan, Ahmet Rifat Sungar, Ercan Kesal.
- Rating: Not rated but contains partial nudity. In Turkish with English subtitles.
- Web site: www.threemonkeysthemovie.com/
The actors, too, are exceptional, particularly Aslan, who portrays the battered, straying housewife with outstanding depth. But, unfortunately, without a compelling script, Ceylan relies almost completely on lighting, pacing and his actors' facial expressions to tell the story.
This family is shaped by pivotal events -- the car accident, Eyup's time in jail, Hacer's infidelity, Ismail's relationship with his friends -- but Ceylan never shows them to us. Instead, we see only the effects, leaving us blind to the characters' motivations and unengaged in their lives.
"Three Monkeys" will be playing Friday to Sunday at Melwood Screening Room.
First Published: July 16, 2009, 8:00 a.m.
