Review by Cameron Maitland

Three Monkeys is the latest from Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan. While this film shows many of his trademarks, it also emerges from an interesting and conventional place.

The film follows the story of a working class driver who takes the fall when his boss, a politician up for re-election, accidentally kills a pedestrian. What follows is the fallout from this decision and how the money offered to him effects both himself and his family. It sounds like a conventional enough plot of a thriller or noir but Ceylan’s careful attention to characters and their complex and often contradictory motivations is what makes the film special. Recognizable from Ceylan’s other films is the family’s inability to communicate played out through long lyrical silences for each character on screen. The acting from every performer has to be top notch to bear the weight of such intense and quiet emotions but luckily every cast member is up to the task.

This film is definitely not for anyone who craves melodrama or instant satisfaction. Much of the emphasis is on what is not said and the slow burn of destruction surrounding the family. I even found myself at times losing interest with the slow pace in the middle of the film but luckily, the payoff is well worth the wait and the overall message of the film deserves the space and time Ceylan gives it.

Three Monkeys
Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Turkey | 2008 | 109min

Sun. Sept. 28 | 4:00pm | Ridge Theatre
Mon. Sept. 29 | 10:30am | Empire Granville Theatre 2
Tues. Sept. 30 | 9:30pm | Empire Granville Theatre 7