baydere Reviews

Shirin (2008)

Reading the faces ...

[9/10 · 4 December 2023]

It's like reading the book of this mythological tale of Khosrow and Shirin's love from the expressions on the faces of the women watching the movie instead of plainly watching the movie itself.

So creative, so extraordinary, so poetic, so emotional, so fantastic...

Just as a note, there is a different but partly similar version of this old tale told in Turkey for ages known as "Ferhat and Sirin" in that Ferhat is stipulated to dig long channels and tunnels on the rocky mountains to bring water to the palace of the sultan as a precondition to marry with his doughter Sirin. Remains of some channels and tunnels in the city of Amasya is shown as a proof of this mythological love.

Il était une fois le musée du Louvre (2021 TV Movie)

Extraordinary History of Louvre

[8/10 · 20 April 2023]

This documentary tells the extraordinary history of the largest and most popular museum in the world and how its invaluable artefacts from different parts of the world have been brought together.

Among 35,000 works of art displayed, focusing on the iconic Mona Lisa of Leonardo da Vinci from Renaissance period, the Venus de Milo sculpture of Alexandros of Antioch from Hellenistic, Liberty Leading the People of Eugene Delacroix from Romanticism period and Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian works, the documentary successfully highlights the foundation, the peaks, lows and the rise of the museum again to glory within its centuries old history. Well worth watching...

Crossing the Border - Zhaoguan (2018)

Confucius teachings from a wise grandpa...

[8/10 · 2 May 2021]

A pleasant low budget road movie featuring a trip to a dying old friend with a slow three-wheel motorcycle by a grandpa and his grandson.

Made beautiful to watch with heartwarming views of nature and the wise teachings from Confucius advising the meaningfulness of being a good person without prejudice but with good will, perseverance and patience.

Highlighting the differences between the generations split by the harsh requirements of today's modern hectic world forcing people to work hard leaving insufficient time for their family and parents, and the old generations for whom to stay alive during difficult times of the past with solidarity, patience and hope for a better future for future generations was more important, a successful piece of work leaving its mark on one's mind. Recommended...

A First Farewell (2018)

Lives, traditions and dreams of Uyghur children...

[8/10 · 25 April 2021]

A beautiful, touching story of three Turkic Uyghur children with picturesque views in one of the small rural villages in Xinjiang, autonomous region of China.

As the director Lina Wang, also of Uyghur origin, expressed, A First Farewell is mainly based on the real life of Isa Yasan, who she met at a local school in Xinjiang.

Apparently, impressed and touched by the boy's life and love for his mother, who is deaf and suffers from mental illness, Wang decided to adapt it to film, and the boy made her realize not to use an adult's thinking to treat the boy's story as a tragedy.

In one of the touching moments, when a teacher asks about the dreams of Isa for the future, he answers that he hopes to become a doctor so he can cure his mother's illness and afford to buy a toy for himself. Wang also says that she felt particularly touched when she saw the boy feeding a little orphaned lamb he had adopted and saying "you are the same as me; Mom cannot give us much love, but we should love mom".

A must watch feature movie with a touch of documentary, reflecting the lives, traditions and dreams of ethnic Uyghur people in China...

Oblivion Verses (2017)

Life is too short. Long Live Death...

[8/10 · 28 March 2021]

Such an impressive scenario and screening to highlight the importance of knowing the burial places of lost ones and continue to be remembered after death. Lost people specially by political dictatorships and wars is a universal problem. Khatemi has successfully managed to show us this sad truth of life by using fantastic metaphors such as the whales and the rubber tyres within this gem of a movie one should not miss...

Mommo (2009)

Minimalist cinema at its best

[8/10 · 30 September 2020]

A very successful first feature-length attempt by the director as an example of minimalist cinema centering children where orphaned siblings Ayse and Ahmet who had to live with their old and disabled grandfather after the death of their mother while their ignorant, good for nothing father leaves them to marry with a woman who does not want them. This heart-affecting movie reflects the love between siblings from their eyes very effectively as a heartbreaking story of the unfortunate reality of our world. Congratulations to amateur child players Elif and Mehmet Bülbül as Ayse and Ahmet, and the director Atalay Tasdiken for his player management in succeeding a noticable performance from village kids Elif and Mehmet Bülbül. A must watch...

Deep Rivers (2018)

Difficult life of lumbermen

[7/10 · 27 September 2020]

From the blue-grey colour tone of the cinematography to using manual tools like axes instead of motor saws by lumbermen, the director has accomplished his objective successfully in showing us the harsh mountainous environment of the Caucasus which reflects in the way the local people live and behave; using urges and emotions rather than mind. Conflicts between the villagers where hatred and individualism replaces cooperation and support makes this harsh environment more difficult to live a decent life. This has been shown in the decision of the youngest of the three brothers who was called from the city to help them logging when their father was injured. The finale is thought-provoking in a sad way...

The Graveless (2018)

Courageous Faulkner adaptation

[7/10 · 6 August 2020]

Gloomy and lyrical adaptation of William Faulkner's Mississippi tale to rural Iran where three sons and the daughter of a deceased man drive a long way to bury their father to a faraway remote village, apparently based on his will. Although quite dull in some aspects except good dusk and low light shootings, it could be accepted as a courageous effort by Mostafa Sayari considering that As I Lay Dying, aka Graveless is his first feature film. Worth watching...

The Warden (2019)

A shining example of late Iranian cinema

[9/10 · 2 August 2020]

One of the best examples of late Iranian movies with impressive cinematography using a nice colour palette and lighting quite unusual for Iranian cinema. Coupled with good acting by major characters, the successfully studied screenplay has a touch of Hitchcock which keeps the mystery of how it will unfold until the end. Using animal metaphors of frog, dog and cat is engrossing...

Trileçe (2018)

Weak scenario for a possible true story

[5/10 · 30 July 2020]

Taking its name from a dessert of Balkans, Trileçe portrays the dramatic story of a 10 year old child Fuat who tries to find his relatives in Skopje, North Macedonia after losing his parents in a fire in post-war Istanbul of 1945. The scenario might be based on a true story but the weak scriptwriting has flaws and goofs which affects the overall performance of the movie in spite of acceptable cinematography which reflects the atmosphere of 1940's. Fruitless effort. Might have been much much better...

The Professor and the Madman (2019)

Could the critics be criticised?

[8/10 · 6 June 2020]

I was perplexed to see how the positive effect left on me after watching this great movie was so opposite to the low points given by the critics. A historical fact about Oxford Dictionary transcribed effectively to the cinema accoupled with the great performances of Penn and Gibson. The lesson learned that I decided not to decide to watch a movie or not merely based on the views of the professional critics. To err is human...