In a small, poor village leaning over high rocky mountains, the villagers are simple and diligent people who struggle to cope with a harsh nature. They earn their living off the earth and a few animals they feed. Fathers always prefer one of their sons. Mothers command their daughters ruthlessly. Ömer, the son of the imam, wishes hopelessly for the death of his father. When he understands that wishful thinking does not have any concrete results, he begins to search for childish ways to kill his father. Yakup is in love with his teacher, and one day after seeing his father spying on the teacher he dreams too, like Ömer, of killing his father. Yıldız studies and tries to manage the household chores imposed by her mother. She learns with irritation about the secrets of the relationship between men and women.
Though modestly plotted and deliberately paced, Times and Winds is a hypnotic look at life in a remote village on Turkey's northwest coast.
– Gary Goldstein,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Jun 2008
fresh:
Buried in leaves or hugging the rocks, they could be in ecstatic communion or fusing with the natural world. More likely, Erdem's marvellous film sees them as bridging the divide between heaven and earth.
– Wally Hammond,
Time Out,
29 Aug 2008
fresh:
Erdem's script and his young cast do a fine job of recalling the years between carefree childhood (embodied by Omer's brother, the precocious and adorable Ali) and adult power and duties.