Title: Tatil Kitabi (Summer Book)
Rating (out of 100): 65
Mood: relatively neutral, nothing too emotionally engaging, pensive about family obligations and limited choices
Timeout / Culture Critic: na / na
(Turkish, with subtitles). Part of London’s 14th Annual Turkish Film Festival (http://www.ltff.org.uk/) this movie shows a modern day Turkish family dealing with life and the opportunities and challenges it brings. Significantly set outside of Istanbul, in a small town, the movie watches as the patriarch of a family (substantially older than his second wife) rules the family and both his sons. We see how his second wife, his brother, and both his sons deal with his control and expectations while trying to carve out their own path in life. Overall, I found the movie to take too long to tell the story. There were some long shots where we were simply seeing the younger son walk (much too long and without a point). Rather than illuminate his situation, these moments just bored and annoyed me. However, the story of the older son as well as the wife were a bit more developed. Ultimately, it’s a story about how modern day people straddle the fine line between following their own dreams and desires while having certain limits. And it also explores the always complex relationship between siblings and family. A decent movie, but not amazing.
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