loved nuri bilge ceylan’s “once upon a time in anatolia.” as usual, ceylan’s eye for photography is apparent in every fame of the film. especially breathtaking are gorgeous wide shots of the turkish steppe shot at night, as a group of men (including a police chief, a prosecutor, a doctor and a murderer) travel the countryside looking for the buried body of the murderer’s victim. the shots are partly lit by what seems to be gentle, hardly perceptible moonlight and the harsh yellow headlights of the cars. this is a slippery film, where the focus of the plot and the crystallization of the characters shift ever so subtly. while the characters are shot up-close, filling up the screen with a variety of faces, thoughts and temperaments, the landscape is filmed from a great distance, offering us some solidity and some respite from petty bureaucratic banter. there is something metaphysical, something profoundly lonely about the contrast between the immensity of the steppe and ant-like cars struggling along a narrow, countryside road, full of men on a mission. particularly arresting are scenes shot in a small village where the group stops for food at the mukhtar’s house. it’s a windy night and as they sit together to feast on lamb kebobs, there’s a power outage. they wait in the dark and begin to doze off in different corners of the room (they’ve been up all night). suddenly the mukhtar’s youthful daughter brings small tea glasses balanced on a tray along with an oil lamp. her face is lit by the bright light of the lamp and the men look at her as is she were an apparition, an angel. the scene is so otherworldly and beautiful that it provokes an emotional reaction in the men and in us, the audience. over the course of the film, the doctor emerges as the plot’s anchor. yet this is a nihilistic man who lives on the sidelines of life. he observes keenly and questions rationally but he is not an active protagonist, until the very end of the film. realistic, unhurried, unforced, yet nuanced and perfectly executed. so delightful to savor intelligent filmmaking.