Nuri Bilge Ceylan is one of the most famous directors of our time. This Turkish filmmaker has been producing films for almost 20 years that shock and delight viewers one by one. After “Alienation”, “Once in Anatolia”, “Winter hibernation”, “Wild Pear”, the tape “On dry grass” was released.
About Dry Grass is a slow-moving story centered on a man working as a teacher in a provincial village. This is a poor desert area in which everything is covered with huge snowdrifts. And life is stiffened and subject to customs.
The hero, who teaches drawing lessons, feels oppressed and dreams of getting out of this depressed area as soon as possible. He got there by distribution and had to spend a few years there before getting the right to go to work and live in the capital.
The usual routine of days is interrupted by two circumstances - on the one hand, the hero is pushed to get acquainted with a woman. On the other hand, he is at the center of a scandal. Two schoolgirls accused him and another teacher of inappropriate behavior.
And if in the film production of most countries such a story would turn into scandalous showdowns with the opening of all sorts of secrets and clarifying the details, the picture of Nuri Bilge Ceylan does not lose its sleepy step. The scandal will never happen. Details will remain unclear. Moreover, this story will even fade into the background, giving way to the conflict of a love triangle.
The audience will be shown enough to have an idea of the characters of all the main characters. But, as in Hollywood’s “Doubt” of 2008, confidence and conviction in the correctness of their ideas will be an unattainable goal.
The main character of Dry Grass is a closed person in whom it is easy to see selfishness and anger. But at the same time, it is easy to see sensuality and kindness. What is more in it is a mystery that the audience will try to solve throughout the whole movie. It's very difficult to empathize with him. And only in the end, the hero himself will tell why his film story is called “about dry grass”. And why is there more death in him, as in this herb, than life?
The IMDB rating is 7.8. And this is certainly a movie worth watching, impressive both for its visuality and its history. And if you like this three-hour picture, then feel free to take a look at other works by Nuri Bilge Ceylan. This 65-year-old director manages to hold the bar very high and create deep conversational tapes. They tell chamber stories that reveal the universal unsolvable sorrows of modern society.