And White as Snow… / Ezgi Küçüktuğsuz
Automatically translated from Turkish. Read the original
2011.05.06
eksisinema.com
Impressions from the 13th International Eskişehir Film Festival – 4
This is one of the two or three films that filled me with joy at having come to this festival and seen these films. The simplest of stories, the most wonderful of films. I can’t tell you how intense it is. You feel the anger, the hope, the unhappiness and the helplessness so deep inside you that it brings tears to your eyes. Yes, there is a boundless white in the film, but there are also a few reds and a few blues, almost tearing through that whiteness. Oh, and some yellow too, though I think only in three or four places.
Adapted from Sabahattin Ali’s story Ayran, the film is, in short, a slice of life of a boy trying to get by under harsh living conditions in a village in Artvin, and of the region itself. That’s it. Perhaps that’s all there is to it. But the film has its music, its photography, its Hasan, a language of its own, a rhythm, even a wind of its own. It has a nice website too. Apparently it opens in cinemas next week, but whatever you do, see it, absolutely see it, I say. I insist, in fact.
Director Selim Güneş apparently comes from a photography background, and this is his first film. In the Q&A, the one that drew the most interest and the most questions at the festival, he answered the questions as fully as he could, in a cool-headed, polite and calm manner. They clearly had a good team; you can tell from the actors and from the producer. Completing the film in a short time, with a terrific choice of child actor, a narrative that flows despite being full of symbols, a film whose eyes smile despite all its drama, its colours, its winds, and an attention to detail that keeps it whole, they have, in my view, produced a magnificent film, and it is impossible not to admire it. I still get goosebumps whenever I hear its music.
Of course it isn’t a film that appeals to everyone and every audience; some people said they were so bored they fell asleep. So be it. I was very excited, at times it hurt, but in short I loved it. For my part, I have gained a director whose work I will eagerly await and happily follow, and that makes me very happy.
*****
*** http://eksisinema.com/13-uluslararasi-eskisehir-film-festivali-4/