Pun Salad

Another "your mileage may differ" flick for you. Once Upon a Time in Anatolia won the Grand Prize at Cannes in 2011, and the IMDB raters bring it in at 7.7 (as I type). So it's not impossible, nay even likely, that you'll like it better than I.

It's set in eastern Turkey. A murder has been committed, the alleged perpetrator has confessed, and the local prosecutor has organized a search party for the corpse. They drive out into the rural countryside with the accused, his mentally-challenged brother, and a few hangers-on. Unfortunately, the perp has only a dim recollection of where he buried the body. So there's a lot of driving.

Spoiler: they eventually find the victim. It takes a real long time, however. The movie is about two and a half hours long. If I were being polite, I'd say the pacing is leisurely. Alternatively: it's sluggish and padded and boring. There are a lot of long scenes where you just see cars driving across the landscape, guys trampling through the countryside, guys staring at each other, or staring at nothing.

The characters spend a lot of time chatting with each other, and there's an interesting subplot revealed in discussions between a prosecutor and the doctor that's been brought along. (Or rather: would have been interesting if the movie were about an hour shorter.)