Telling Tales

Rıza drives a minibus in the Suriçi district of Istanbul, a gentle and shy man everyone in the neighbourhood likes and nobody expects anything from. When he meets Ayperi he starts rethinking everything he took to be right. Burak Aksak wrote and directed it; he had written the series Leyla ile Mecnun, and that language shows here too, in surreal digressions, scenes addressed straight to the audience and a neighbourhood built like a fable. Hande Doğandemir and Fatih Artman lead. It uses the romantic comedy template and does not end where that template expects. It opened in January 2015. Who it is for: viewers who like fable-like storytelling in Turkish cinema and the language of Leyla ile Mecnun. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a realistic love story.