Stuck Apart

Lets be honest, you are all asking yourselves what did I watch? How were these actors cast in this, and who funded it?

But first some backstory... This film was the first writing credit for the Taylan brothers, and they unapologetically gave us an avant-garde Turkish character study. In Turkey there are two types of stories; the traditional 3 act structure that most of us are used to called the "Olay Oykusu" OR the character study / "glimpse into the life of" pieces that have a very thin plot, and spend more time on character, called "Durum Oykusu". Azizler my friends, is the latter, a story where we glimpse into the ridiculous and unbelievable lives of our protagonists. Although this version of storytelling is dominant in biographical stories (Roma, Kaybedenler Kulubu) it is rare to see this format in a minimalistically fantastical world - and lets all be honest, it was too bizarre. As for our actors, this type of story is where they truly get to flex their acting muscles since the movie depends on it and they have quite the range to do what they want.

Since this is the first writing piece from the Taylan brothers, one can assume that they are still fine tuning their skills and that they have more to grow. Thankfully Netflix has enough cash to throw at them, probably for the sake of creating a relationship and I assume gave them final cut. This resulted in a 6/10 film that was too off the beaten path for its own good. Will you like this film if you don't watch award films? No. Will you watch this because it is all the A-listers best work? Probably not. Should you get baked before watching this? Absolutely... But what did you expect - actually though what did you expect?

If you watch this movie, you should do so for the views and so that Netflix spends more money in Turkey. Maybe if enough of us watch these Turkish films, Netflix might greenlight a "Roma" of our own.