December 21, 2023

Hayat | Life Review by A. Dorsay

Mavi Boncuk |

See: Life|Hayat Mavi Boncuk Posting

Hayat | Life Review by A. Dorsay[1]

Zeki Demirkubuz is returning. He is one of the half-dozen directors who stepped into Turkish cinema in the 1990s, who made beautiful films one after the other, and who I call the '6 Musketeers'... Along with Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Semih Kaplanoğlu, Derviş Zaim, Reha Erdem and Yeşim Ustaoğlu. .. Almost all of them are still producing. Demirkubuz signed this film exactly 7 years after his last film, Kor. Isn't it eagerly awaited?

And the movie turns out as expected. In my opinion, even if it does not bring everyone to the same point and is not received with as much admiration as, for example, the beloved Uğur Vardan, it is definitely an important, solid film that should be taken extremely seriously. Let's try it too.

The events begin with the disappearance of a young girl in the Boyabat region, in the countryside. And Hicran, who attracts attention with her pure, clean face and big blue eyes, leaves and goes somewhere. Rıza, who is around the same age, has established a romantic relationship with her and is perhaps determined to make it more serious, but is turned upside down by the girl's disappearance. And his missing posters are posted around the district. While Rıza screams, "I can't do anything in life anymore," his father says: "Don't follow a woman who doesn't love you, doesn't want you, doesn't chase you!" Later it turns out that the place where Hicran went was our beautiful Istanbul. And from that moment on, Istanbul's Bosphorus, Beşiktaş, Eminönü, Taksim etc. The images form the setting for the film.

The first half of the film is almost entirely a men's story. Until Hijran comes into play in the second half... There are also old people; They are all young people with beards and moustaches... Rıza, who works in his grandfather's bakery with a sign called "Buy Bread from the Baker", is a really sympathetic and handsome person. And together with the workers, they teach us how to make wonderful bread!... Young people come together so often and tightly... In this masculine world where women almost do not exist, it is even possible to think that those male encounters may contain a certain sexuality!..

The conversations continue with lots of swearing and male chatter. Meanwhile, Hicran, who may have fallen on a 'bad path' in Istanbul, returns to Boyabat. She does not want to marry the man her father found; He witnesses the violence his mother experiences. The male dominance prevalent in this country is one of the main themes and masterfully displayed features of the film.

Hicran comes into play in the second half. And it puts its weight on the story. Finally, at her father's insistence, she marries retired teacher Orhan. He is also very talkative, lectures the young girl, and actually has a tough personality behind his soft appearance... He even offers us a delicious monologue at one point. And thanks to the actor we miss, Cem Davran, this becomes one of the most unforgettable parts of the movie.

​ The movie may be too long, sometimes too slow, and sometimes repetitive. So, in my opinion, it is not a perfect movie. But they are so interesting and have such sayings coming from Demirkubuz, who also wrote the script... Sometimes, there are lots of long and abundant speeches; Sometimes it is laconic... And it relies solely on the image. "This is Türkiye; here everyone believes what they want to believe"; There are also sayings like "Everything touches the foundations of something else in this life". Sometimes harsh and startling images surprise people; But suddenly you realize that they are just dream scenes.

The film also brings up our country's women's issue once again and in a very original way. Especially the effort to marry off our daughters too early or by force... The saying somewhere "Love has nothing to do with logic" is very nice... The images of tea being constantly served or drunk throughout the movie show the Turkish people's passion for tea!...

And so the years pass. Those young people are maturing; dreams are fading; love is running out. But of course life goes on. We, on the other hand, witness the fate of those people: thanks to a masterful script and its masterful cinematography... Let me add that the Cevahir Şahin-Kürşat Üresin duo behind the images also recently shot Nuri Bilge's movie Kuru Otlar Üstüne. Apparently, this duo will be especially good at very long films!.. By the way, let me point out that there is very little music and it is used exactly in its place. Although I couldn't find even a little information about music in any of the sources...

The acting is also terrific. Especially in Hicran, Miray Daner has a divorce scene (I mean the divorce of emotions!) towards the finale... I mean crying with sobs... I have never seen such a touching, heart-breaking crying scene on the screen, and moreover, presented in a single shot. !.. You should go and see it just for this reason.

[1] A. Dorsay Mavi Boncuk Posting

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