Nuri Bilge Ceylan-Mayıs sıkıntısı ('Clouds of May') (1999)

This May in the town seems to be warmer and gloomier than the previous years. Still, everyone seems to be happy despite their small worries and lives closed for any surprises. However, this happiness is a little disturbed by the arrival of Muzaffer who has made up his mind to shoot a film in this town where he had passed his childhood. NBCfilm




"Clouds of May" tells the story of Muzaffer, who returns to his native town to make a movie. His father, Emin, is bent on saving the small forest he cultivates on his property from confiscation by the authorities. His nephew, nine year-old Ali, who wants a musical watch. He has to carry an egg in his pocket for 40 days without cracking it, according to terms of an agreement made with his aunt, who has promised in return to convince Ali's father to purchase this much wanted item for his son. And Muzaffer's cousin, Saffet, who is a young town dweller whose affords are all doomed to failure by bad luck (or is it by his own rebelliousness) and who dreams of going to Istanbul. NBCfilm




Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan has gained much critical acclaim and international film festival success through his two most recent films, Uzak and Climates, but few had the opportunity to see the director’s first two films that precede them. If the substance of Uzak was not immediately apparent to all when seen in isolation, it’s hollowness perhaps gains more depth and meaning when viewed as the third part of a trilogy started in Kasaba and continued through Clouds of May. Those two films may also owe a great debt to some of the most important filmmakers in the world in terms of their structure, imagery and technique, but through them the director is still able to bring out his own personal concerns and experiences. dvdtimes




Clouds of May is almost a fictional ‘making of’ of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s previous film, Kasaba - but due to the “homemade” nature of the director’s films, using non-professional actors, drawing on his own family for ideas and for their performances, the lines between fiction and reality become somewhat blurred. Moreover, Ceylan has the remarkable ability, in the manner of Abbas Kiarostami, to take a situation one step further and delve even deeper, opening up newer levels with complex resonances and nuances. dvdtimes




Regardless of whether it is original or not, Ceylan makes it work for himself, and Clouds of May is a fascinating and quite brilliant piece of filmmaking, full of life and full of love for life, with its infinite richness and complexity. dvdtimes