SYNOPSICS
Sonbahar (2008) is a Turkish,Georgian movie. Özcan Alper has directed this movie. Onur Saylak,Megi Kobaladze,Serkan Keskin,Raife Yenigül are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2008. Sonbahar (2008) is considered one of the best Drama movie in India and around the world.
Yusuf is a Turkish political activist whose work with a group of revolutionaries earned him a long stay in prison. He is released after ten years when he's diagnosed with a severe respiratory illness, and returns home to the small town near the Black Sea where his mother lives. His homecoming gets off to a rocky start when his dog doesn't recognize him, and while his mother is happy he's back, she can't offer him the emotional and spiritual comfort he needs after a decade in jail. Mikail, a close friend of his from their school days, decides his old pal needs a vacation, and they head to Rize, a resort town by the sea shore. Mikail rents a couple of rooms at a cheap motel and rounds up a pair of hookers to entertain them, Eka and Maria. Yusuf isn't in the mood for cheap sex and refuses to spend the night with Eka, but as they get to know one another, the two begin to bond and Yusuf finds a kindred spirit in a woman whose life has taken her places she never wanted to go.
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Sonbahar (2008) Reviews
A successful debut from young Turkish Director
I saw this debut movie at the last Black Nights FF in Tallinn. It has very strong political stance and very lyrical visual narration. Also good acting and good script is supporting this narrative. Onur Saylak in leading role is performing a great acting with a minimalistic warm and sincere play. Film tells the story of a political prisoner who has been suffered by the inhuman conditions of F-type jails. He has been released on the health ground, back to the hometown which is located in East Black Sea Region and tried to adopt to daily life again.The most impressive part of the story is his meeting with a young Georgian women who earns her life from prostitution.Their relation provides an opportunity to the audience to compare the dreams, frustrations and the pains of two people which one of them is spent his ten years in prison because of his socialist ideology and the other suffers from aftereffects of same ideology. It is a good example of New Turkish Cinema of 2000s like "My Marlon and Brando" and "Summer Book". I gave 8 this movie and strongly recommend to everyone who likes art-house movie with humanistic discourse.
When solitude joins desperation, it can be more than loneliness.
Before entering the theater, I fetch only a few information about movie. Through slow-spaced storyline till the end, the movie captures the life of Yusuf, a man who is long-term sentenced in jail, but gets released due to his health problem. He returns his mountain village to find only his elderly mother's welcome, while his older sister went away to the city because of marriage. He then meets his friend at childhood, who brings him to a girl. Everything starts there. I love the way the world of Yusuf gets slowly affected by his mother's life, his childhood friend and one young prostitute. These circumstances start to have his memory confronted with reality, after his world of desperation seems in solitude to people. However, the mood of loneliness can be yet overwhelming through the film. And when the desperation and loneliness blend together with uphill atmosphere shot in autumn, the mood and cinematography then undeniably play a great and splendid role to rivet my attention. This is the first feature film by Özcan Alper, which I can call it a little gem.
Wow!
I saw this film at the San Francisco International Film Festival and the audience was ecstatic. Fans of Bela Tarr will appreciate the scenes with no dialog, but which still deliver more information than a babbling script could have delivered about a troubled political prisoner and a conflicted nation in a confused world. The cinematography, from the "central chair" in the home to the snowy mountains of northern Turkey were amazing. One issue that I wish that I had looked at before seeing the film was the history of Turkish/Russian relations. This is a major theme. In a similar vein for those of us who have read and loved the novels of Orhan Pamuk, we westerners learn something very important about a vibrant but conflicted country. I gave this 9 stars based on content first, with cinematography a very close second. The lead actor is incredible and this is a new director to be watched.
Falling like Autumn leaves...
A poet says 'To one thing on the earth my heart burns for / those who passed away in the spring of their life'. And it is Autumn: Sonbahar which in Turkish means the last spring. Ozcan Alper's debut is about the evils the seasons do against the political prisoner Yusuf who was released for health reasons. Because of his socialist convictions he spent the spring-time of his life in prison. He comes back to his hometown. His mother takes care of him. He meets a Georgian girl and they fell in love. She suffers from the post-socialist conditions in her native country and is left with no other option than prostitute. Two victims of the same ideology, two lonely and tortured souls find a sheltering love in each other. But Yusuf's days are countable! Shot in beautiful locations in the Black Sea region which is also my hometown, the visuals of AUTUMN are simply magic and breath-taking. The Black Sea is the heart and inner world of Yusuf. Black Sea is an angry and rough, undulated sea. It is a rebellious sea as you'll see in one of the most beautiful scenes of the film where Yusuf walks over the sea on the small breakwater. The film has a sad end, the characters fall aside like Autumn leaves.. What else to say: the film is a beauty like a black pearl! It was also a box-office success in Turkey for an art-house film. Just see the film to discover more! 8 out of 10...
One of best, most meticulously handled art films in my recent memory
Honestly, I cannot find fault with this movie. If you are a fan of fast-pace,thrilling and noisy Hollywood movies or any other foreign films that are obsessed with the portrayal of sex, then you should not even bother to comment on this movie. Also, if you want to compare this film to Tarkovsky, you are ruining the name of this Turkish director. Tarkovsky's film is like watching the paint dry without any real substance, but this film is a whole level above the self-indulgent art films with ridiculously long shots that offer no meaning. The feeling of the protagonist blends perfectly with the wonderful portrayal of nature and meticulously handled cinematography to create a deeply satisfying feeling that one can rarely get from performing most of the activities in our lives. This movie succeeds on many levels, whether it be symbolical, existential and emotional level. It totally rivets the audience as we watch every sequence of the character's life unfold and are absorbed into the authentic, life-like mood of the Autumn. It is a truly enjoyable and profound experience. Because of this movie, i will be a loyal fan of the Turkish cinema for many years to come. Not only the movie shows what a real movie should be like, it can also be seen as a book of wisdom that reveals eternal truth or problems that are hidden in human lives.