✯✯✯✯½

Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s films have never always been the easiest for many viewers to access, but sitting down there always feels like you’re made to think about why life turns out the way it does. With About Dry Grasses, it seems like Nuri Bilge Ceylan takes one of the most uncompromising looks at subject matter that perhaps might just on paper be a bit too uncomfortable for some to ask, especially around now. But Ceylan is not one to hit all the easy marks especially with the subject matter he chooses to tackle. Which is a big part of why I continually find him so fascinating, and with About Dry Grasses, he brings out a beautifully layered, thoughtful drama that comes off hugely self-deprecatory.

Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu) is an art teacher from Istanbul. After having been assigned to teach at a remote village in Eastern Anatolia for years, he makes himself out to be someone who appreciates his job greatly and proves popular with his students. But he finds himself embroiled in a scandal after being accused of inappropriate conduct with one of his younger students. As Samet’s life slowly finds itself crumbling down bit by bit, he is forced to reckon with the social ramifications of a potential scandal coming by – and the potential prospects he has of a future within his teaching profession.

And soon, it seems like every bit of good will that we’d have for Samet is completely lost there on. But I think that there’s only so much that Nuri Bilge Ceylan is able to bring to the table in About Dry Grasses that makes it worthy of us spending more than three hours watching a completely selfish man get exactly what’s coming to him. This whole movie is incredibly talkative, but it’s never without any thought, even as Ceylan is interested in interrogating the circumstances that put Samet where he is, especially as he’s continually resentful of where he is in life.

Going into the fact that this is a movie that is highly talkative, perhaps the fact that it’s all unfolding akin to a novel that makes About Dry Grasses so highly thoughtful too. Perhaps there’s also a lot to be delivered within the complete mundanity of Ceylan’s ability to see through people without rushing to judge them for who they were. Perhaps the most telling aspect of how Ceylan sees humanity in About Dry Grasses comes forth in how he breaks down where the selfishness of a man like Samet comes from. It never feels like it’s judging him, but it is also very critical of the circumstances that led him to behave in such a manner, and in turn it shares its sympathy for the student who passed him an innocent love letter.

There’s not a moment in the film’s running time that ever feels wasted, but what makes it work in favour of About Dry Grasses is the way in which it makes you feel the extent to which Samet’s life is slowly crumbling. If this were a film made by a lesser filmmaker, you could sense that this is a film that identifies with his selfishness but Ceylan always remains critical as the extent of his worldviews can only bring him down even further. Of course, it’s already felt from the moment we see him act as if he’s worth far more than teaching a remote Anatolian village, but Deniz Celiloğlu gives him so much more depth – presenting him as an almost pitiable man, not even taking the visual beauty of the landscapes for granted (and Ceylan really emphasizes so much of this).

But I think that with how Ceylan molds a character like Samet, being caught inside a scenario of this sort, he’s using this film as a means of ruminating on what would become of him, had he chosen a similar path in life. Make no mistake, a film like About Dry Grasses won’t pose many easy answers, but it feels like Ceylan uses this as an opportunity to hold a mirror of sorts to the viewer. It is a film all about people looking out only for themselves, without realizing the extent of the harm being caused up until something puts his own worldview in danger. And perhaps it’s also why you can’t help but feel as it goes on, there’s only a growing feeling of pity inside you.

Watch the trailer right here.

All images via Janus Films.

Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Screenplay by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Ebru Ceylan, Akın Aksu
Produced by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Starring Deniz Celiloğlu, Merve Dizdar, Musab Ekici
Release Date: September 29, 2023 (Turkey)
Running Time: 197 minutes