Nuri Bilge Ceylan is the king of the 'talky' epic, and About Dry Grasses might be his most cynical work yet. The film centers on Samet, an art teacher who feels buried alive in a remote village. He's counting the days until he can escape to Istanbul, but his world implodes when he and a colleague are accused of 'inappropriate contact' with students.
What makes this film fascinating—and difficult—is that Samet isn't a hero. He's often a jerk. He’s petty, he steals his friend's potential love interest, and his relationship with his favorite student, Sevim, walks a very uncomfortable line of emotional grooming. The film doesn't tell you how to feel about him. It just shows him.
The Visuals and the 'Break'
Even if the dialogue feels heavy, the visuals are staggering. The way Ceylan shoots the Turkish winter makes you feel the cold in your bones. There is also a specific scene where the protagonist literally walks off the movie set into the 'real world' for a moment before returning to the scene. It’s a jarring, brilliant move that reminds you that everything you're watching is a construction, perhaps mirroring how Samet himself constructs his own reality to justify his behavior.
Is it worth the three hours?
For most people? Probably not. It’s a marathon of subtitles and moral ambiguity. But for the intentional parent who wants to show their teen that movies can be as complex and frustrating as a great novel, this is the move. It’s the antithesis of the 'content' that fills streaming feeds. It lingers. You'll be thinking about the final shot for weeks.
