‘About Dry Grasses’ Review: Nuri Bilge Ceylan Delivers a Pastoral Masterpiece About Turkey’s Contemporary Complexities

Prior to the release of his latest film, “The Book of Solutions,” it had been eight years since we’ve seen a feature from Michel Gondry. However, it appears the filmmaker isn’t going to wait that long before his next film.

At the center of the mystery. Lexi Underwood is making waves as Isabella LaRue in season 2 of Freeform’s anthology series Cruel Summer.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic If you’ve ever wondered when it was that Michel Gondry, the gifted French director of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” became the world’s most annoying filmmaker, you might say the answer is, “He always was.” Yet no one, including me, quite thinks of him that way. That’s because the few works of his that have come to prominence possess a special combination of facility and charm. I adore “Eternal Sunshine,” a virtuoso movie that bends your brain and breaks your heart at the same time. You might simply choose to characterize it as the masterpiece of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, but the truth is that Gondry directed it ­— the leaps in time, the emotionally convulsive performances of Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet — with a masterful sense of play and gravitational control.

More details have emerged about the encounters between two alleged Greater Manchester gang bosses in Dubai.

All right, let’s do this one more time: (cue propulsive, impossibly cool hip-hop beat): in 2018, despite an oversaturation of ‘Spider-Man’ movies, and just two years after Marvel introduced yet another actor as the character in live-action (just two years after ditching the previous guy), Sony did the unimaginable with “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.” Not only did they craft a thrilling, ingenious, inventive, highly original, and entertaining ‘Spider-Man’ like never before, they created the best-animated superhero film ever, and arguably one of the all-time superhero films ever.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The colorful world of Michel Gondry, the Oscar-winning writer-director of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” is the subject of an upcoming feature documentary represented worldwide by Reservoir Docs. Directed by François Nemeta, “Michel Gondry: Do it Yourself” is an 80-minute documentary shedding light on Gondry’s “inventive and unusual creative process,” from his first video clips to the shooting of his latest movie “The Book of Solutions” which recently opened at Cannes’ Directors Fortnight. “Michel Gondry: Do it Yourself” is produced by Olivier de Bannes at O2B Films, and Robin Acard at The Red Ceiling, and is co-produced by ARTE France.

The U.S. rights for Cannes Film Festival award winner “About Dry Grasses” have been acquired by Sideshow and Janus Films.“About Dry Grasses” follows Samet, a young art teacher who is finishing his fourth year of compulsory service in a remote village in Anatolia. After a turn of events he can hardly make sense of, he loses his hopes of escaping the grim life he seems to be stuck in.

“He moved up from Sydney in 2021 and we have not stopped laughing,” Denise, 74, tells New Idea from her Gold Coast home. 

A heartbroken family have paid tribute to a mum-of-three who died after collapsing on holiday in Turkey.

A young mum of three who collapsed on holiday with swelling on her brain and heart is clinically dead with no chance of recovery, her family has said.

Ferne McCann looked ever the radiant beauty this week as she showcased her growing baby bump with some holiday snaps from her trip to Turkey. The reality star, 32, who is currently expecting her second child, sported a figure-hugging green maxi dress with a cowl neck and slinky design as she smiled for a picture during her trip - sharing it with her 2.9M Instagram followers. She has been enjoying a family trip away this week before preparing to welcome the new arrival, who is her first with fiancé Lorri Haines, this summer.

At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, filmmaker Michel Gondry debuted his first feature film since 2015’s “Microbe & Gasoline,” titled “The Book of Solutions.” So far, the film has earned rave reviews (including our own) and looks to be one of Gondry’s most vital films in quite some time.

Love Island winner Ekin-Su Culculoglu has shared a sad admission about life after going on the dating show. The Turkish star won the ITV2 show alongside partner Davide Sanclimenti in 2022 and the couple were popular in the polls, winning with a massive 63.7 percent of the public vote.

Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu has opened up on the mental health struggles she battled in secret while starring on Dancing On Ice earlier this year.The 28-year-old – who shot to fame when she won last year's Love Island with boyfriend Davide Sanclimenti – was the third celebrity eliminated from the hit ITV1 skating show in February. Now the reality star, who hails from Turkey and recently discussed how she would love to adopt victims of the country's recent earthquakes, has discussed her struggles for the first time. In an interview with Cosmopolitan UK, Ekin-Su said she "couldn't say anything" about her mental health until now.

Michel Gondry’s new film “The Book of Solutions,” playing in Directors’ Fortnight at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, centers on the torturous life of being a creative filmmaker and begins at the heart of the matter: Marcc(Pierre Niney) is in a meeting with the producers of his new film, and they are unhappy with what he has delivered them. They’re ending the shoot, putting a new editor in charge to salvage what is already there, and his producing partner of many years finally turns his back on him.

Chrishell Stause is sharing receipts about her relationship with Selling Sunset co-star Nicole Young.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan has been a Cannes regular since his debut short, “Koza,” in 1995. An assured auteur from the very beginning, Ceylan made a name for Turkey on the festival circuit, and every year he brings a new title to the Croisette, critics and audiences alike already know what they’re in for.

When is time not on the side of any Cannes film premiere?

Nuri Bilge Ceylan loves snow. The depths of winter, people in thick coats, frozen taps, the sense that these long, bitterly cold seasons in mountain regions will never end. This is all working material for the Turkish master whose Winter Sleep won the Palme d’Or in 2014. “What am I doing here?” is the regular moan from Samet (Deniz Celiloglu), the art teacher in the village school in About Dry Grasses.

Guy Lodge Film Critic “Does everyone have to be a hero?” The question comes from thirtysomething art teacher Samet (Deni̇z Celi̇loğlu), burst out in frustration in the heat of an intense argument with his fellow educator and would-be girlfriend Nuray (Merve Di̇zdar), as they disagree over just how, or how much, any individual is obliged to contribute to society. It’s a familiar cry from a male protagonist in a film by Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, even if it hasn’t ever been worded quite so directly: “About Dry Grasses,” his long, languid but slowly captivating ninth feature, is merely his latest work to examine man’s right, for better or worse, to be selfish, to be an anti-hero, to crave attention and isolation all at once, and to talk about it all night long.