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Nov 17, 2019Nursebob rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan turns a son's visit into a secular Pilgrim’s Progress with the highly opinionated youth running into all manner of avatars and muses, devil’s advocates and animal familiars, as he navigates through a countryside alive with symbolic portents: a dry well speaks of creative struggle; a purloined apple offers the same old temptation; and snow either drifts or thaws according to the emotional climate. Unfortunately, at three hours, the film gets caught up in a few too many rustling metaphors and philosophical tangents as the director becomes enamoured with his own message—part celebration of the artistic mind and part rebuke against Turkey itself. Two scenes did stand out nevertheless: Sinan getting a long overdue dressing-down from an accomplished author tired of his narcissistic ramblings, and Sinan goading two imams as they argue over the nature of God—their increasingly ridiculous bombast counterpointed by the distant barnyard sounds of cackling chickens and bleating goats.