The Palme d’Or winner of Cannes 2014, Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s dark and powerful portrait of this world is also bitterly funny at times and, as always with this brilliant Turkish filmmaker, the imagery is often breathtakingly beautiful. Former actor Aydin (Haluk Bilginer) owns a small hotel and a significant portion of the land in and around a small Anatolian village. A bitter man, he uses his power to make other people’s lives unhappy. The actions of a young local boy and Aydin’s response to them bring simmering tensions to the surface.
