ABOUT DRY GRASSES

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

2024, Turkey/France/Germany, 197min.

Language: Turkish w/ English Subtitles

Cast: Merve Dizdar, Deniz Celiloglu, Musab Ekici

 

Nestled away in wintry East Anatolia, public-school art teacher Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu) yearns to leave the sleepy village for cosmopolitan Istanbul. Further disenchanted when he and Kenan (Musab Ekici), a colleague, come under public scrutiny, Samet fears circumstances will keep him in Anatolia and his dreams of a new life forever out of reach. A silver lining is a budding relationship with Nuray (Merve Dizdar), a fellow teacher and firebrand who forces Samet to confront what he can’t readily accept. Renowned for his nuanced, visually ravishing imagery, award-winning director Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, Winter Sleep) capstones the film with one of his greatest sequences, a dazzling metacinematic climax featuring an unforgettable performance from Dizdar, who took home Best Actress at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. “Let the hypnotic, caustic beauty of About Dry Grasses consume you.” – Bilge Ebiri, New York magazine.