Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Synopsis
In the rural area around the Anatolian town of Keskin, the local prosecutor, police commissar, and doctor lead a search for a victim of a murder to whom a suspect named Kenan and his mentally challenged brother confessed. However, the search is proving more difficult than expected as Kenan is fuzzy as to the body's exact location. As the group continues looking, its members can't help but chat among themselves about both trivia and their deepest concerns in an investigation that is proving more trying than any of them expected.
Production Budget Analysis
The production budget for Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) has not been publicly disclosed.
CAST: Muhammet Uzuner, Yılmaz Erdoğan, Taner Birsel, Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan, Fırat Tanış, Ercan Kesal DIRECTOR: Nuri Bilge Ceylan CINEMATOGRAPHY: Gökhan Tiryaki PRODUCTION: 1000 Volt, Zeynofilm, 2006 Produkcija
Box Office Performance
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia earned $152,408 domestically and $-13,678 internationally, for a worldwide total of $138,730. The film skewed heavily domestic (110%), suggesting strong North American appeal.
Profitability Assessment
Insufficient publicly available data to assess profitability.
INDUSTRY IMPACT
PRODUCTION NOTES
▸ Production
Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan grew up in a small town similar to the one in the film in terms of mentality and hierarchy, and says he feels a close connection to the characters depicted. The story is based on real events. One of Ceylan's co-writers was an actual doctor, and, in order to attain his license, had been required to work for two years in the town where the plot is set.
The story in the film is based on very similar events the co-writer experienced during this period. The title of the film references Sergio Leone's film Once Upon a Time in the West, and was something one of the drivers uttered during the actual events. When writing the screenplay, the filmmakers tried to be as realistic as possible, and the main aim was to portray the special atmosphere, which had left a strong impression on the doctor. A number of quotations from stories by Anton Chekhov were incorporated into the script.
The film was produced through Turkey's Zeyno Film, in co-production with the Bosnian company Production2006 Sarajevo, and the Turkish companies NBC Film, 1000 Volt Post Production, the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, Imaj and Fida Film. Filming took place during eleven weeks around Keskin, a district of the Kırıkkale Province in Central Anatolia. It was shot in the CinemaScope format.
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
Summary: 21 wins & 34 nominations total
Awards Won: ★ Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix
Nominations: ○ Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film ○ European Film Award for Best Director (25th European Film Awards) ○ International Submission to the Academy Awards ○ European Film Award for Best Cinematographer (25th European Film Awards) ○ Asia Pacific Screen Award for Best Feature Film
CRITICAL RECEPTION
The film has been met with critical acclaim. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 94% based on 70 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Cerebral and thrilling, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is a meditative procedural that maintains feverish intensity throughout its unhurried runtime". Metacritic gives a weighted average rating of 82 based on reviews from 21 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Dave Calhoun reviewed the film for Time Out London: "Ceylan is a sly and daring screen artist of the highest order and should draw wild praise with this new film for challenging both himself and us, the audience, with this lengthy, rigorous and masterly portrait of a night and day in the life of a murder investigation." Calhoun compared the film to the director's previous works and noted how it to a lesser extent follows genre conventions: "Displaying a new interest in words and story (albeit of the most elusive kind), Once Upon A Time in Anatolia feels like a change of direction for Ceylan and may disappoint those who were especially attracted to the urbane melancholia of Uzak and Climates. ... Beyond being chronological, the film follows no obvious storytelling pattern. Things happen when they do and at a natural rhythm. ... Ceylan invites us along for the ride – but only if we're up for it."
The film received the Cannes Film Festival's second most prestigious award, the Grand Prix, in a shared win with the film The Kid with a Bike by the Dardenne brothers.
The film was selected as Turkey's official submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but did not make the shortlist.
Sight & Sound listed Once Upon a Time in Anatolia as the 8th best film of 2012.
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