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Once Upon A Time in Anatolia

Play trailer Poster for Once Upon A Time in Anatolia Released Jan 4, 2012 2h 37m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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92% Tomatometer 77 Reviews 74% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Tensions rise as a group of Turkish officials and civilians conduct a nighttime search for a buried homicide victim.

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Once Upon A Time in Anatolia

Once Upon A Time in Anatolia

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Critics Consensus

Cerebral and thrilling, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is a meditative procedural that maintains feverish intensity throughout its unhurried runtime.

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Critics Reviews

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Stanley Kauffmann The New Republic Ceylan's own growing reputation will, I hope, continue to grow. He uses the realistic film as an avenue to what lies around and beyond the realism. Jun 19, 2013 Full Review Wesley Morris Boston Globe It runs 157 minutes, and I can't say you don't feel them. You do - but in the way you would, reading a very good book in an uncomfortable chair. Rated: 3.5/4 May 16, 2012 Full Review Michael O'Sullivan Washington Post A movie of such dark, smoldering intensity that it's easy to forget that half of it takes place in near darkness. Rated: 4/4 May 11, 2012 Full Review Diego Batlle Otroscines.com Past beyond its duration, the film grows darker and more intense as it moves forward. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 7.5/10 Oct 4, 2022 Full Review Dustin Chang Floating World As the title suggests, Ceylan's new film unfolds like a good book. What seems a police procedural on the surface, Anatolia is a deeply felt human drama that is rich and nuanced as any great Russian novel. Feb 28, 2021 Full Review Michael J. Casey Boulder Weekly As meditative as it is methodical, stunningly photographed, and as existentially provocative as anything Albert Camus ever wrote. Rated: 4/5 Aug 11, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Eduard A The movie itself is a work of art because the director created a sense of drama using powerful source of light in darkness at light. The use of artificial and physical light in different settings gives us the impression that he worked on these scenes meticulously. One of the coolest point in the movie is the revelation of a mysterious murder, which is the main issue above all, to my point of view. I do not refer to the quest of corpse in the movie, but that of the beautiful woman who committed suicide after labour. Viewers have no idea what she looks like, but the main plot is based on her story. So this parallelism was very clever design. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 06/13/23 Full Review cem y This is a masterpiece which could be one of the examples for demonstrating what cinema is. Every shot in the movie is a beautiful photograph taken at a perfect place with a perfect angle. It is so realistic that one, who belongs to Anatolia, might need to visit his/her memoirs. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review david l I usually love the films of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, but Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is in my opinion one of his lesser works. This movie deals with so many themes – suicide, police work, obsession and some Russian literature elements are sprinkled throughout as well. But the movie ended up being too dense, structurally loose and as usual overlong. Some conversations are excellent and quite deep, but watching the movie as a whole, it failed to attach all of its diverse elements into a cohesive whole. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Cok guzel bir film. Heyecan dolu ama ayni zamanda cok sakin. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/27/23 Full Review BowTangey M This Turkish film, as films go, is long. But when it ended I was left with the wistful "But what comes next?" concerning numerous characters I had come to care about. Virtually every actor in the great ensemble cast was distinctly limned with depth so that they were clearly the centers of their own dramas, and not merely bit players in the protagonist's. The film is effortlessly atmospheric, in its use of natural light and darkness, in the sounds of the wind, the cars, the birds. No special effects needed here. It reminds me of my favorite scene from Spielberg's "Jaws," where Captain Quint recounts the sinking and aftermath of the battleship Indianapolis. Lit by a single, swinging, bare bulb, with listeners spellbound, eyes wide. Much of this film has that feel. For a movie with virtually no music, the soundtrack was nonetheless powerful and haunting. Based on only this film, director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has vaulted onto my list of great artists, and I cannot wait to see more of his work. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/15/24 Full Review Eitan D This is the 3rd movie of the director that I'm watching and he keeps making great movies! This movie is very simple, about 15 men set up in 3 cars to look for a body that one of them confessed to killing. While the search goes on we're getting to know more about some of these men. It's nothing bombastic, one is fighting smoking, another has problems with family life (well, maybe more then just 1 man), someone has a weak minded brother that needs his care. It's all little things that many of us have to deal with through our life and this movie makes an astounding picture of it. P.s.- make sure to pay attention to the very 1st scene- when 3 men eating, the fat guy there i think gives the performance of the movie, so simple and yet so touching Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 04/08/21 Full Review Read all reviews
Once Upon A Time in Anatolia

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Tensions rise as a group of Turkish officials and civilians conduct a nighttime search for a buried homicide victim.
Director
Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Producer
Zeynep Özbatur Atakan
Screenwriter
Ercan Kesal, Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Distributor
Cinema Guild
Genre
Drama
Original Language
Turkish
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 4, 2012, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 2, 2017
Runtime
2h 37m
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