Fatma

Starring:Awatef Jendoubi, Nabila Guider, Bagdadi Aoum, Amel Safta, Huguette Maillard, Maurice Garrel
Director: Khaled Ghorbal
Studio: AFD
Product Type: DVD

Product Description

Winner of the prestigious Fipresci Award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, CLIMATES is internationally acclaimed writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan s sublime follow-up to his Cannes multi-award winner DISTANT. Beautifully drawn and meticulously observed, the film vividly recalls the cinema of Italian master Michelangelo Antonioni with its poetic use of landscape and the incisive, exquisitely visual rendering of loneliness, loss and the often-elusive nature of happiness. During a sweltering summer vacation on the Aegean coast, the relationship between middle-aged professor Isa (played by Ceylan himself) and his younger, television producer girlfriend Bahar (the luminous Ebru Ceylan, Ceylan s real-life wife) brutally implodes. Back in Istanbul that fall, Isa rekindles a torrid affair with a previous lover. But when he learns that Bahar has left the city for a job in the snowy East, he follows her there to win her back. Boasting subtly powerful performances, heart-stoppingly stunning cinematography (Ceylan s first work in high definition) and densely textured sound design, CLIMATES is the Turkish filmmaker s most gorgeous rumination yet on the fragility and complexity of human relationships.

SPECIAL FEATURES
Stunning new anamorphic transfer, created from hi-def elements The Making of Climates Climates at Cannes Interview: Director/actor Nuri Bilge Ceylan and actor Ebru Ceylan U.S. Theatrical Trailer Optional English subtitles

2006 97 minutes Turkey Color In Turkish with optional English subtitles 1.95:1 theatrical aspect ratio Not Rated

Customer Reviews:

Climate Control.......2007-06-28

Turkey's 'Climates' conveys its message well. Plodding like many foreign movies, the film nevertheless has quiet, authentic power. Writer/director Nuri Bilge Ceylan stars as Isla, a man who has an on-again, off-again relationship with Bahar (played with real and rounded emotion by his real wife Ebru Ceylan). He's a professor of architecture in Istanbul, and she's a TV series star. (He focuses upon the ancient ruins, and she has a very modern role in an emerging feminist way.) He tries to woo her as she flees from him, seeming to be miserable in his company. Much of the film shows her looking at Isla with the camera out of focus. She seems to have to rely on herself for happiness that often eludes her grasp. He's middle aged, and she's merely a mature adult. After they fight during dinner at a friend's house, they decide to separate. Then, he constantly comes back to her looking for some sort of reconciliation as she listens with a far away look in her eyes.

'Climates' is one of the many foreign movies that requires patience from its audience. The revelations are subtle, but the performances are convincing with actors who show great emotions boiling below the surface. One key lovemaking scene explains much as it shows a confrontation that is sickening to watch, but it says a great deal about Isla, who amidst his culture mirrored by his colleague friend, regard women like possessions. Watching Bahar's transformation between joy and sadness is the the real revelation; one that makes a serious statement about the difference between real love and possessive infatuation. The acting is excellent, revealing a great deal about men and women with evolving roles in a world growing out of the ruins of ancient culture.

Average customer rating:

Anna Netrebko The Voice
Anna Netrebko: The Woman the Voice
Anna Netrebko is amazing!!!
Opera for the common folks
MTV meets Opera... with mixed results

Anna Netrebko - The Woman, The Voice
Starring: Anna Netrebko , Volker Michl , Ilona Holzbauer , Eric Assandri , and Ilkem Ulugün
Director: Vincent Paterson
Manufacturer: Deutsche Grammophon
ProductGroup: DVD
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Gala Concert from St. Petersburg / Anna Netrebko, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Mischa Maisky, Victor Tretyakov, Elisso Virsaladze, Yuri Temirkanov, Nikolai Alekseev, St. Petersburg Philharmonic
Anna Netrebko: Opera Arias
Sempre Libera
Verdi - La Traviata
Donizetti - L'Elisir d'Amore / Eschwe, Netrebko, Villazon, Wiener Staatsoper

ASIN: B0001GH58S
Release Date: 2004-11-23

Customer Reviews:

Anna Netrebko The Voice.......2007-03-19

She is obviously a legendary voice in her own lifetime. The video was superb and I am passing it around for many friends to view. Her conversations in English showed her Russian roots.

Anna Netrebko: The Woman the Voice.......2007-03-10

This DVD displays such color and variety that it makes an excellent introduction to Opera format. This from a total novice to Opera.

Anna Netrebko is amazing!!!.......2007-01-10

Anna Netrebko has a sweet lyrical voice. Her voice isn't too deep and her vibrato isn't too fast. I don't like singers who sound like sheep. This is a really good DVD because it shows off her range and voice control.

Opera for the common folks.......2006-06-16

Opera, in general, is considered an elitist art form, targeting middle age and over and well heeled patrons. This DVD, thanks to the "Netrebko" phenomenal package and Paterson's intelligent directing, brought opera to the masses who knew nothing about opera. The more I watch it the more I like it for its intended purpose and artistic value. No wonder, in Europe, this DVD outsold Beyonce's and Spears'. Classical music, and especially opera, is going through hard times competing for the entertainment dollar. What Netrebko and Paterson did is unique, they deserve credit, and we need more of the same. This venue is the best marketing tool I've ever seen to generate interest in opera among common folks and especially youth breathing and living through music videos. This DVD of five choreographed-MTV style-popular arias deserves 5 stars. The single star on top was entered accidentally.

Constantine A. Papas
El Paso, TX

MTV meets Opera... with mixed results.......2006-05-17

I hesitated for the longest time in getting this DVD because of all the conflicting reviews. Fortunately I chanced upon a copy going at bargain-price and just had to see what the hoo-haa was about. Now I understand why so many viewers disliked it. It's a collection of "music videos," much like what you'd see on MTV. Personally, I thought the videos were on the whole quite well done. My complaint is that there is so little here. The main programme is barely 49 mins long and consists of a sum total of just 5 "music videos," each preceeded by Anna's introductions and interspersed with interviews with her on her life and career. Together with 19 minutes worth of bonus clips, the DVD lasts just over an hour. The 133min running time stated on the back cover needs to be taken with a large pinch of salt because it involves various permutations of watching the videos - without the introductions or without the interviews or just watching the interviews without the videos etc.
The five music videos in order of appearance are:
1. "Les grands seigneurs ont seuls des airs...Ah! je ris de me voir" (Jewel Song) from Gounod's "Faust"
2. "Quando me'n vo' (Musetta's Waltz)" from Puccini's "La Boheme"
3. "Crudele? - Ah no, mio bene! Non mi dir" from Mozart's "Don Giovanni"
4. "Care compagne, et voi, ternei amici" from Bellini's "La Sonnambula"
5. "Mesicku na nebli hlubokem" (Song to the Moon) from Dvorak's "Rusalka"
These are all taken from her debut CD "Opera Arias" and she lip-synchs to them in the videos. The DVD looks more like a promo for her CD than a full-fledged operatic DVD. Which brings us to the pricing. If you want to make a music video, than price it like other music videos, not as a premium-priced opera DVD.

The real treasures here are the 3 bonus clips - live recordings of Anna as she appears onstage. My favorite is the exerpt from Glinka's "Ruslan and Lyudmila" recorded in 1995 at the Mariinsky Theater in her home city of St. Petersburg (Act I aria "Grustno mne, roditel' dorogoy!"). Of the 2 Traviata exerpts, the "E strano! ... Delirio vano e questo!" & the "Sempre Libera" aria (Act I Finale) from her 2003 Vienna State Opera debut performance are exhilarating and fully deserving of the thunderous bravos from the usually sedate Viennese audience.

Throughout the disc, Anna's singing is superb. She has a gorgeous and very expressive voice. And she is without doubt one of the most beautiful sopranos to have ever graced the stage.

Much of the vitriol of critics center around the videos themselves which bear little relation to the operas although most are inspired by the text of the arias being sung. Several are just simple updates to more modern settings. The "Jewel Song" video could be easily mistaken for any modern pop music video. The "Non mi dir" is impressionistic and rather avant-garde. Personally I found them creative and quite enjoyable. I still don't get the significance of the dancers with tree branches for limbs in the "Don Giovanni" aria (much like the mutilated Lavinia in Julie Taymor's avant-garde production of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus) but it was visually arresting and quite unforgettable. My favorite piece here remains Rusalka's "Song to the Moon." It is beautifully sung, quiet and restrained yet so full of longing and heartache that it brings a tear to the eye. Unfortunately that doesn't extend to the accompaning video which was, strangely, rather disappointing. For once the video gives a very literal interpretation of the aria. Rusalka is a water spirit who asks to be made human so that she can be near the Prince that she loves. The video opens with a lovely shot of the moon, followed by a pan down to gently lapping waves. What spoils the illusion is the sight of Anna lounging or clinging on to a plastic inflatable as she floats in a darkened swimming pool. Tacky doesn't even begin to describe it. Still, she is a pleasure to watch, no matter how insipid the setting.

The main programme comes in a 16x9 anamorphic widescreen (enhanced for widescreen TV) with very good picture quality and excellent surround sound. Three sound tracks are provided: DTS 5.1, Dolby Digital 5.1 and PCM Stereo (CD quality). The sound has more presence than most classical music DVDs I've come across. Of the 3 bonus clips, the 2 Traviata exerpts are in 4:3 fullscreen while the Ruslan is in letterbox widescreen (Non-anamorphic). The "Traviata" exerpt from Bavaria looks rather shabby due to overly bright stage lighting but the "Traviata" from Vienna and the "Ruslan" from the Mariinsky both look very good indeed.

Grouses aside, credit should be given to all involved for attempting something new. Opera audiences are shrinking by the day. If this endeavor has even minimal success in bringing the MTV generation to the sublime joys of opera, kudos to it. For the sake of us fuddy-duddy old folk who have enjoyed opera for years, I hope Ms Netrebko releases another DVD of more traditional performances soon. Live performances, even short exerpts like that shown in the bonus clips would find a ready and deeply appreciative audience.

Average customer rating:

A revelation, an inocense found
Exellent
lost and alone in turkey
Man in his cave
Visually very powerful and artistic with a strong theme but could use an emotional Turkish soundtrack!

Distant
Starring: Muzaffer Özdemir , Emin Toprak , Zuhal Gencer , Nazan Kirilmis , and Feridun Koc
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Manufacturer: New Yorker Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Head-On
Journey to the Sun
The Conformist (Extended Edition)
Paradise Now
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul

ASIN: B0007939R0
Release Date: 2005-03-22

Amazon.com

The highly acclaimed, award-winning Turkish film Distant is a deeply compassionate and frequently amusing study of quiet desperation, prompting many critics to favorably compare writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's subtly hypnotic drama to the films of Ozu and Tarkovsky. Watch closely and you'll recognize someone you know, or even yourself, and the quietest moments are the most enjoyably revealing. Muzaffer Özdemir and Mehmet Emin Toprak shared Best Actor honors at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival for their perfectly nuanced performances as (respectively) divorced, 40-something photographer Mahmut and his distant relative Yusef, who arrives in Istanbul looking for work, and quickly wears out his welcome. Tensions mount, revealing solitude as the natural (if not preferred) state of these lonely, melancholy men. (In the context of this film, it's tragically ironic that Toprak was killed in an auto accident, at age 28, six months before his honors at Cannes.) With understated humor, Ceylan observes Mahmut and Yusef's chronic isolation, but he never passes judgment. Distant could've been made anywhere and it would yield the same visually seductive study of detachment. Tune into its wavelength and you'll find it unforgettable. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

A revelation, an inocense found.......2007-04-20

Alienation is a new experience in Turkish society, reflected in this film in an innocent way: there's no violence, no sexual extremes of the "Last Tango in Paris" kind, no murder revelations of the "Blow Up" kind - everything in this film is about innocence. The best illustration, in my humble opinion, is when Mahmut the photographer recognizes the beauty of innocent Anatolia landscape but gives up on photographing it, not being sure if it really was worth photographing it or not. In a word, he lost his roots - he couldn't discern them anymore and that exactly is what was the drama of the movie, expressed in a subtle way not familiar to us westerners. We, the westerners, need strong stimuli in order to be able to ponder and comprehend the world phenomena, to our own disadvantage.

Exellent.......2007-03-27

One of the best films to have been released in recent years and an exellent insight into post 1999 earthquake Turkey.

You will have to watch the film at least twice (I did) The first time you watch it you will be thinking "This film is awful" "The sound quality is terrible" "The acting is awful" It is only when you watch it for a second time that you start to appreciate it.

For a start the character Mahmut was not chosen because of his acting ability he was chosen due to his facial expressions and how well he fitted the character, the quality of sound reflects the realism of the film there is no background music (apart from those coming from chimes blown by the wind) There is a lack of light in the appartment again, to add to the realism of the film.

Turkey was going through a tough time when this film was made, the economic crisis made thousands jobless and those already without jobs even more desperate, everyone was looking for work and using whatever connections they had to find employmnet.

This film is no east V west or modern V traditional but rather the life of 2 ordinary Turks on screen. On the one hand we have Mahmut, from rural Turkey (as most of the population is) who had came to Istanbul many years before, made it good largely through his own hard work and made a decent life for himself. Sadly, his personal life has not been so fortunate. Divorced from his wife in spite of his numerous friends he is a lonely character seemingly finding solace in prostitutes and alcohol.

Then along comes Yusuf, straight from Mahmuts home village and seeking work after the local factory has closed down he arrives in Istanbul with no real idea of how to find a job and no comprehention that Mahmut has his own problems to deal with and the last thing he could possibly want would be a relative who thinks he is going to find work, a partner and a whole new life for him in the big city.

This film is perhaps the most accurate analysis of the tensions that go on every day in large cities in Turkey between those already settled there and those who have newly arrived. One point that is missing though, there is no mention of Yusuf being either invited to stay with Mahmud or just arriving without notice I would have been interested in the dynamics of that.

An exellent film, one to watch and watch again (Just wish more of this directors filsm were available!)

lost and alone in turkey.......2007-01-25

Mahmut is a man in mid-life who has lost all joy and passion for life. He is a professional photographer who insists to his friends that "photography is dead." He watches television for endless hours in his dark apartment, frequents bars and restaurants alone, worries about his mother who is hospitalized, chain smokes, and badly misses his former wife Nazan who is emigrating to Canada with her new husband. Then his relative Yusuf shows up on his doorstep in Istanbul, unemployed and unemployable. Yusuf upsets all of Mahmut's petty habits and routines, leaving lights on, smoking in the wrong rooms, not flushing, littering beer cans, and the like. The film explores the palpable loneliness and lostness of these two men, and how they interact. Truly, they are "distant" from any meaningful friendship with each other, the world, or even their own selves. In Turkish with English subtitles.

Man in his cave.......2006-10-07

The director of DISTANT reportedly used his own apartment as the primary set, his own belongings, e.g. his personal car, as props, and a friend and a cousin as the two principal characters. Such dedication to the creative impulse deserves more than I can bestow.

Here, a divorced professional photographer, Mahmut (Muzaffer Ozdemir) lives a reclusive life in an Istanbul suburb, his only contact with the rest of the species being an occasional tryst with a prostitute. One day, his cousin from the country, Yusuf (Emin Toprak), arrives in the Big City. Yusuf's father has recently been laid off from his job, and Yusuf is hoping to land a berth on one of the merchant ships that docks in Istanbul to help pay for his ailing mother's health care. Thinking that his relative will soon be set up on his own, Mahmut invites the young man to stay with him. But, as the latter's hopes for employment shrivel in a dried-up job market and his habitation with Mahmut is extended, the tension between the two increases due to Mahmut's smoldering resentment at the intrusion on his space.

Had DISTANT been written as a comedy, such as the American film THE ODD COUPLE, or had it been made edgier with a violent end, it would've been worth the viewing time. Rather, it's a slow-moving, unengaging exercise that peters out to an unremarkable conclusion.

The only surprise in this film for me was the revelation that Istanbul, at sea level in a temperate clime, experiences snow in the winter. Who would've thought?

Visually very powerful and artistic with a strong theme but could use an emotional Turkish soundtrack!.......2006-09-05

I watched the DVD Distant about 4 years after it was released in 2002. Let me say upfront that I am not an admirer of European or Turkish cinema at all. In fact, I had previously been disappointed with many European or Turkish productions to the degree that I almost quit watching them.

To my surprise, I did find a lot to watch and enjoy in the movie Distant. The photographic visuals are suberb due to the director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who is a long-time photographer. Minimalist natural lighting actually augments the theme of loneliness and the minimal communication among the lead actors. Powerful visuals are definitely among the top strengths of this movie. Emotional power is another one.

I particularly enjoyed watching two of the special features in the DVD, behind-the-scenes footage and interview with the director. Plot Synopsis at Amazon here states that the director employed his relatives as amateur actors for this movie. In my opinion, you can witness the lack of self-confidence of the character named Yusuf when you see behind-the-scenes footage, in which the director literally spoon-feeds the exact details of his role under the snow in Istanbul.

I did not enjoy the no-script theatrical trailer among the special features. It gives you no clues about the movie at all. It might serve well as a trailer for a slide show but it really falls short of the expectations from a theatrical trailer for a drama. If you were to see the theatrical trailer before you watch the movie, you would probably wonder "What is this movie about?" It should have been accompanied with a voiceover as in Hollywood theatrical trailers.

I believe the movie Distant really lacks a soundtrack to make a punch. Silent passages in the movie are abundant, and they could surely make use of an emotional Turkish soundtrack to support the theme of the movie. The country of Turkey happens to be quite rich in the amount of emotional music. All in all, this movie is a feast for the eyes and the heart but not so fulfilling in terms of sound.

Average customer rating:

Bab El-Oued City
Starring: Nadia Kaci , Mohamed Ourdache , Hassan Abidou , Mabrouk Ait Amara , and Messaoud Hattau
Director: Merzak Allouache
Manufacturer: Blaq Out
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Rachida
Viva La'ldjerie
Mouchette - Criterion Collection
The Syrian Bride
Pan's Labyrinth (New Line Two-Disc Platinum Series)

ASIN: B000JMK6SK
Release Date: 2006-12-27

Description

In the spring of 1989, Algeria is still unstable after the violent riots of the previous year. Boualem, who works the night shift in a bakery in the Bab El-Oued district of Algiers, makes a foolish mistake in this volatile atmosphere. After he is awakened by the amplified sermon of a rising Islamic cleric as it blares over a loudspeaker perched atop his building, he steals the speaker and tosses it into the sea. This blunder re-ignites the turmoil and unrest, causing the Islamic extremists to put the district under their control. The film was shot in secrecy in Algeria by acclaimed director Merzak Allouache because of its insight into the political ramifications of Islamic fundamentalism. A story ripped from today's headlines, BAB EL-OUED CITY reveals how religious militancy affects ordinary men and women.

Average customer rating:

A revelation, an inocense found
Exellent
lost and alone in turkey
Man in his cave
Visually very powerful and artistic with a strong theme but could use an emotional Turkish soundtrack!

Uzak [Region 2]
Starring: Muzaffer Özdemir , Emin Toprak , Zuhal Gencer , Nazan Kirilmis , and Feridun Koc
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Head-On
Journey to the Sun
The Conformist (Extended Edition)
Paradise Now
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul

ASIN: B0002LUAFC

Amazon.com

Customer Reviews:

A revelation, an inocense found.......2007-04-20

Exellent.......2007-03-27

lost and alone in turkey.......2007-01-25

Man in his cave.......2006-10-07

Visually very powerful and artistic with a strong theme but could use an emotional Turkish soundtrack!.......2006-09-05

Average customer rating:

Fatma
Starring: Awatef Jendoubi , Nabila Guider , Bagdadi Aoum , Amel Safta , and Huguette Maillard
Director: Khaled Ghorbal
Manufacturer: AFD
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Afrita Hanem (The Genie Lady)
A Man in our House
Adrift on the Nile
The Nightingale's Prayer
Rachida

ASIN: B00016GIZY
Release Date: 2003-12-01

Description

The legendary diva Umm Kulthum stars in this classic film about a poor nurse who falls in love with the son of one of her wealthy patients. Abandoned by her husband while pregnant, she must fight her husband's wealthy and powerful family in court. A rare treat, this film features nine of Umm Kulthum's most famous songs by composers Mohamed Al Asabgui and Riad Al Sunbati. DVD EXTRAS include English and French subtitles, scene access and filmographies.

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