Climates

Nuri Bilge Ceylan (‘Three Monkeys’), 2006
Use of supposed close-up; no real close-up in the film
All shots are perception shots- constantly watching others, axis around a silent figure
Supposed close-ups/ P.O.V. shots reveal themselves not to be so; as other shots segue into closer views (still perceptions shots)
Constant intrusions/ interruptions, by telephone or otherwise
Long takes, with this silent axis builds up the power relations
Frequent use of out of focus plains of depth. Multi-plain staging means that we have characters leering over each other, as well as distance, estrangement
Necessary to do this, to have them in the long static shots together
Use of backlighting, to make the characters stand out, stand apart, from landscape
Clear themes of the pathetic male figure (slightly predictably so at times) who can only cope with a kind of assertion of power over women
Clear case of ennui here
The obvious reference is to Antonioni; their is even a sequence which seems to make a clear reference to ‘L’Eclisse’, and the dedramatized, depth staging, along with the themes of men and women, let us say, not getting along, all point this way
But has much longer takes/ less movement than Antonioni. More of a cold look than Antonioni’s search for some kind of inner truth
Less post-human use of framings/ colour schemas/ pictoral abstraction than Antonioni. The beautiful views could be argued to fall into occasional pictorialism, but there under use rather alienates them, sidestepping that
The better comparison might be to ‘Journey to Italy’, with the long takes and growing resentment (this film mves on from there, but the opening sequence seems clearly referenced)
As is the use of ruins as a theme. Idea of capturing them, when all else is lost, the power of them, and the appeal of the selfish man
This is an above average film, but not in the near perfect territory of those mentioned; a few slip-ups with plot, and it does seem derivative of those works of disconnection/ ennui etc
In a modern idiom of slower camerawork and a more empirical approach than the personal visions, works well on its terms