As my friend Jeremy Fassler says, the film Three Monkeys "would be much better if it had some actual monkeys". In fact, from the title, one expects a Pixar film about three monkeys that have some kind of adventure. At least that would be an enjoyable way to spend 109 minutes. The set-up for Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys is indeed an interesting one; a politician in the midst of an election runs over someone and pays his driver to take the blame. The action seems to have a potential for a thrilling film, but Ceylan only explores this conflict for the first half hour. Ceylan doesn't explore anything of interest to the audience and wastes rolls and rolls of film on the minutia of everyday life, filling the screen with people constantly sitting and doing things that have no meaning. He places different conflicts throughout the film, but they are never fully explored and are few and far between. For example, at one point in the film, the son of the driver who took the blame for the car accident comes home bloodied and bruised. His mother simply looks at him. There is no explanation of what happened and why. Even at the end of the film, the audience has no idea who the characters are, what there backgrounds are, and what their mutual history is. What Ceylan has created here is a slow and boring look at everyday life. Ceylan seems willing to let the story be told by having his actors sit, and stare. He fails to realize that watching other people do unimportant things does not make for an interesting film. Ceylan's direction isn't bad, but it isn't good either. At times he just turns the camera on and he cannot figure out how to involve the audience in the film. The shots he uses are nothing special and nothing sticks out. The cinematography gives the film a very distinct look. But every shot in the film looks the same, and after a while, it stops being interesting. The only part of the film that works is the acting. All the performances are good, but because Ceylan doesn't explore any of the characters, there is nothing for the actors to convey to the audience as a way of involving the viewer. As a result, the audience feels alienated from the characters and doesn't care what happens. Three Monkeys attempts to be an intense and involving character study. Instead it comes off as pretentious and flat. Ceylan tries to milk as much drama out of Three Monkeys, but this cow is all dried up. This is evidenced by the final shot of the film; the main character, seen from afar, stands outside as it begins to rain. Ceylan is wrong director for this film (regardless of the fact that he co-wrote it). He seems interested in emotional drama and doesn't realize what type of film Three Monkeys needs to be. A film with a plot like this can go either one of two ways; it can either explore the conflict the main character creates and the direct consequences, or it can show what happens when all the dust settles. Unfortunately, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Three Monkeys takes the latter. C+
Review of Three Monkeys
