Rent About Dry Grasses (2023)

Another gem from Nuri Bilge Ceylan - About Dry Grasses review by PD

With its wintry, rural setting, this latest from Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan features his trademark compositional allure, opening here with a wide shot of a man being dropped off by a van at the edge of an icy field, his dark figure contrasting starkly against the pale ground and sky. This is Samet (Deniz Celiloglu), a middle-school teacher who is bitterly serving out the last year of his assignment at a remote village school. Similar to Ceylan’s Winter Sleep, this is a character portrait of a distinctly unlikeable man—though here, Samet (given a veiled dangerousness by Celiloglu) remains stuck in a state of self-delusion until the end. Samet is so preoccupied with puffing himself up, and with controlling the given situation around him, that he woefully miscalculates of a number of personal encounters, most notably with Sevim (beautifully played by Ece Bagci), one of his students; the scenes involving the two of them are quite masterful, leaving us with the distinct feeling that there’s so much more to Sevim than meets Samet’s eye, if only the self-obsessed fool would be curious enough to look.

Meanwhile, Ceylan's visual compositions are stunning once again — a shot for example of Samet and a colleague retrieving water from a mountaintop well, which seems to float in the clouds is particularly memorable—and unexpected touches arrive when the film cuts to widescreen renditions of the portraits Samet takes of villagers with his camera, as well as a bizarre moment in which Samet breaks the fourth wall by opening a door and walking across the soundstage where the film is being shot. As ever with Ceylan, much of the film consists of lengthy dialogues about life, the universe and everything, with occasional references to the country’s political tensions, although here class dynamics also feature. Probably the most arresting scene is that which occurs between Samet and Nuray, a teacher from another town, and a recent amputee. As Nuray, Merve Dizdar gives one of those electric supporting performances that threatens to grab the film from its lead, particularly since Nuray has a voracious intelligence that sees through Samet immediately, as well as a sorrowful weariness in the wake of her injury.

Many will doubtless be put off by its style ('nothing happens') and its running time (well over 3 hours) but for fans like me it could have gone on for days. Wonderful stuff.

Insufferable, But I Couldn't Look Away - About Dry Grasses review by griggs

Three hours long, and I'd happily have gone straight back in for a second lap.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan's got a way of making three hours feel less like a slog and more like a conversation you didn't want to leave. Samet, a teacher counting down the days until his transfer to Istanbul comes through, is the kind of character you actively dislike spending time with — self-pitying, a bit cowardly, certain he's the smartest person in any room he's stuck in. Credit to Deniz Celiloglu for going all in on it. I didn't warm to Samet for a second, but I couldn't stop watching him either.

Then Merve Dizdar arrives around the halfway mark and quietly takes the whole film off him. She won Best Actress at Cannes for this, and it's obvious why within about two scenes — there's a calm to her performance that makes Samet's whole act look exhausting by comparison.

It's talky, occasionally to a fault, and one dinner scene goes on long enough to test your patience. But the closing stretch reframes everything that came before it, and honestly, Dizdar's worth it on her own.

A slow burn that earns its length.

Long But Worth It - About Dry Grasses review by KB

Interesting ,involving film. Because of its length i was going to watch it in 2 goes but ended up watching it all .Although its long, it's nicely paced , didn't drag and i found it more absorbing as it went on with some very involving scenes. Overall, i can't find fault with anything.