Three Monkeys (2008)

☆ ☆ ☆

Three Monkeys (2008) – N. B. Ceylan

Nuri Bilge Ceylan, the Turkish master, directs movies that contain images of stunning widescreen beauty, often of the Anatolian foothills but sometimes, as in this film, just in a grungy apartment building.  The slow plots of these films can burn with a mysterious intensity that makes it hard to look away.  However, Three Monkeys is a lesser work and although noir-ish in its focus on the poor choices and inescapable fates of a chauffeur, his wife, and his son, it drags rather than grips.  Perhaps this is because Ceylan uses tectonic slabs of storyline that drift and then fit together too easily compared to the expected twists and turns of the usual noir (a late surprise offers nothing but resolution, satisfyingly apt though it may be). The acting by the four leads, particularly Hatice Aslan as the wife, is strong.  But for choice Ceylan, I would recommend Once Upon a Time In Anatolia (2011), Winter Sleep (2014), or Distant (2002) ahead of this one.  And I’ll be anticipating whatever comes next from this auteur!