Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
Cinema Guild | Release Date: January 4, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 21 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
3
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 16, 2012
With his two early features, "Distant" (2002) and "Climates" (2006), Ceylan has showed himself a superb film-maker. This is his greatest so far. Read full review
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsMar 10, 2012
The wondrous cinematography is by Gokhan Tiryaki. It is not an easy picture. Not many masterpieces are. Read full review
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyMar 1, 2012
If the word masterpiece has any use these days, it must apply to the film Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, a mature, philosophically resonant work from Turkey's leading director, 53-year-old Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Climates, Distance, Three Monkeys). Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubScott TobiasJan 4, 2012
The body means different things for each of them, and Ceylan's mesmerizing existential drama takes its time establishing the players and bringing their inner lives into focus. It's cinema as autopsy. Read full review
91
IndieWireEric KohnDec 31, 2011
Nuri Bilge Ceylan's mesmerizing Once Upon a Time in Anatolia plays like "Zodiac" meets "Police, Adjective." Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'HehirJan 4, 2012
What a handful of patient moviegoers may find in Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, however, is a subtle, gorgeous and mysterious allegory that may be Ceylan's masterwork to date. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisJan 3, 2012
A metaphysical road movie about life, death and the limits of knowledge, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia has arrived just in time to cure the adult filmgoer blues. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeWesley MorrisMay 17, 2012
Eerily tragic and chillingly hard to come to terms with. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertMar 7, 2012
Nuri Bilge Ceylan, one of Turkey's best directors, has a deep understanding of human nature. He loves his characters and empathizes with them. They deserve better than to be shuttled around in a facile plot. They deserve empathy. So do we all. Read full review
85
MovielineMichelle OrangeJan 5, 2012
Tectonic pacing builds to a series of imperceptible and yet earth-moving moments in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, a habeas corpus procedural stretched across two and a half discursive hours. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn LevyApr 5, 2012
With its wide-open setting and taciturn, macho characters, it's a film that earns the right to use the "Once Upon a Time" title that Sergio Leone made so perversely famous. Read full review
80
Total FilmTom DawsonMar 16, 2012
Closer in metaphysical spirit to Kiarostami than to Leone, it lingers thanks to beautifully lit widescreen images of lived-in faces and barren, beautiful landscapes. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid ParkinsonMar 12, 2012
Complex and sophisticated, this genre-defying crime story is spellbinding viewing. Read full review
80
Village VoiceJ. HobermanJan 3, 2012
A 157-minute police procedural at once sensuous and cerebral, profane and metaphysical, "empty" and abundant, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is closer to the Antonioni of "L'Avventura," and it elevates the 52-year-old director to a new level of achievement. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangDec 31, 2011
Though its glacial pacing will represent a significant hurdle for many viewers, the film grows steadily more involving as dawn breaks and the men make their way back home, and its unflinching observations of the legal and medical establishment at work frequently rivet. Visually, it's as gorgeous a film as Ceylan has made. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. MusettoJan 5, 2012
Patient viewers will be rewarded, as long as they pay attention. Lots of what at first seems inconsequential is actually of great import - but Ceylan isn't letting on. And yes, the cinematography is impressive. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungDec 31, 2011
For those willing to take the plunge, it is a deep and haunting work that lingers in the memory. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierJan 5, 2012
Acclaimed director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's meditative, at times maddening expression of human mystery and barren landscapes is gorgeous to look at, intriguing to think about and, at times, hard to sit through. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid FearJan 3, 2012
There's too much beauty and ballast in the movie's early stages to dismiss Ceylan's cerebral cop drama, and too much genuine banality in its latter acts to justify a sluggish slouch into the shallow end. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleFeb 9, 2012
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia is boring, but not in the usual way of boring movies. It is colossally, memorably and audaciously boring. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerDec 31, 2011
Nuri Bilge Ceylan has to be the least kinetic of working filmmakers - and not simply in the sense of static camerawork or lack of narrative momentum. Read full review
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