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Movies / Upcoming / Three Monkeys
Three Monkeys

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Three Monkeys (2009)

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Reviews Counted:56

Fresh:43

Rotten:13

Average Rating:6.7/10

Consensus: Exploring the effects of a family's dealings with an underhanded politician, this crime drama avoids showing the violent outcomes of its characters' misdeeds, resulting in a lingeringly potent film.

Rated: 15

Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:13-02-2009

Synopsis: After his critically acclaimed mood pieces Distant and Climates, Turkey’s leading filmmaker moves in a more plot-driven direction while retaining his mastery of ambiance and nuance. Winner of the... After his critically acclaimed mood pieces Distant and Climates, Turkey’s leading filmmaker moves in a more plot-driven direction while retaining his mastery of ambiance and nuance. Winner of the Best Director prize at Cannes, Three Monkeys tells a twisty, noirish tale that opens with an ambitious politician fleeing a hit-and-run accident. Afraid of hurting his election chances, he pays off his chauffeur, Eyüp, to take the rap.

The film concerns the effects of this devil’s bargain on Eyüp’s shiftless son Ismail (who sees an expensive new car as his ticket to salvation), and on his restless wife, Hacer (who develops an ill-deserved passion for the oily politico). Ismail’s discovery of his mother's infidelity and Eyüp's suspicions after he gets out of jail crank up the simmering tensions in a household already haunted by hidden ghosts.

In the spirit of Buñuel's The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and Haneke's Caché, Three Monkeys mounts a caustic critique of the bourgeois family, riddled with hypocrisy yet stubbornly resilient in its seemingly boundless capacity to sidestep guilt and accountability. As in his previous films, Ceylan is unsurpassed at evoking both emotional and haunting cityscapes. The wintry vistas of Distant are supplanted here by sweltering seaside summerscapes, rife with thundering trains and lowering clouds that portend a day of reckoning repeatedly -- but perhaps not endlessly -- deferred. --© Zeitgeist Films [More]

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Screenwriter: Ebru Ceylan, Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Studio: New Yorker Films

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Reviews for Three Monkeys

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
01/14/10
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

With very few words, it really gets under our skin

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
03/15/09
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Despite the strong performances he obtains from his actors here, and the way he keeps piquing our curiosity with ellipses and ambiguities, the film is not powerful enough to get away with that elaborate story line.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment Comment
02/19/09
Edward Porter
Edward Porter
Sunday Times (UK)

This is a film of formidable power that sticks in the mind.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
02/19/09
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s subtle and fascinating Three Monkeys, a film in which a family’s lies uncover a hidden honesty.

Full Review Source: Little White Lies | comment Comment
02/19/09
Matt Bochenski
Matt Bochenski
Little White Lies

Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s aching film is driven by complex, powerful performances. Too many angsty silences deflate the tension, but it’s gripping while it lasts.

Full Review Source: thelondonpaper | comment Comment
02/13/09
Jonathan Crocker
Jonathan Crocker
thelondonpaper

It is certainly an engrossing work, it looks wonderful and every frame is dense with intelligence. There are stabs of interest and insight in every scene.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
02/13/09
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This Turkish film simmers and drips with restrained tension.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
02/13/09
Sun Online

Three Monkeys, could be reduced to a simple moral – never do a dodgy politician a favour – though its layering of ironies and wrong turnings render it more subtly disturbing than that précis might suggest.

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
02/13/09
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

This is a fascinating transitional film from an intriguing director at the top of his game.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/12/09
Dave Calhoun
Dave Calhoun
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A grim, slow-burning exploration of guilt, grief and murder that keeps the audience at arm's length through its cold, intermittently misanthropic, vision of humanity but which is filled with ravishing images and a powerfully brooding atmosphere.

Full Review Source: Film4 | comment Comment
02/12/09
Jamie McLeish
Jamie McLeish
Film4
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is a fascinating film that, once seen, is hard to dislodge from your imagination.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
02/12/09
Sukhdev Sandhu
Sukhdev Sandhu
Daily Telegraph
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A subtly persuasive drama steeped in a strangely beautiful pallor, thanks to superb HD cinematography.

Full Review Source: Sky Movies | comment Comment
02/12/09
Elliott Noble
Elliott Noble
Sky Movies

So long as you can adjust to the singular pace of the story-telling, then this film, which won Ceylan the best director award at Cannes last year, is a powerfully affecting piece.

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
02/12/09
Karl French
Karl French
Financial Times

Three Monkeys is a noirish thriller — boasting an explosive beginning, middle and end. The pace is still slow and the kiss-kiss bang-bangs take place off camera, but the effect is seismic.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment 3 Comments
02/12/09
Charlotte O'Sullivan
Charlotte O'Sullivan
This is London

It's best described as introspective melodrama, yet both visually and tonally, it's still quintessential Ceylan.

Full Review Source: Screen International | comment Comment
10/18/08
Jonathan Romney
Jonathan Romney
Screen International

This is a must.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
10/18/08
James Christopher
James Christopher
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The noirish plot doesn't quite jibe with characters this inscrutable; all you really know about them is that they appear incapable of honesty.

Full Review Source: Oregonian | comment Comment
07/31/09
Stan Hall
Stan Hall
Oregonian

The film is photographed in a noirish style, but it is so plodding that no part of it is the least bit thrilling.

Full Review Source: Kaplan vs. Kaplan | comment Comment
07/21/09
Jeanne Kaplan
Jeanne Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan

If you like foreign films nearly two hours in length that are one long lingering shot, then "Three Monkeys" is for you.

Full Review Source: Kaplan vs. Kaplan | comment Comment
07/21/09
David Kaplan
David Kaplan
Kaplan vs. Kaplan
 
 
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