Blue Cave

Cem is a naval officer. He is married to Alara and the two of them have a promise: one day they will dive together into the cave off Kas. Alara falls ill and dies of cancer. For a while Cem can do nothing. Then he decides to keep the promise and sets out alone. Along the way the details of their life together come back; the first meeting, the arguments, the promises made. Reaching the cave is not the end of the matter; the film's question starts there. Altan Donmez directs. Kerem Bursin and Osman Kaya wrote the screenplay. Kerem Bursin, Devrim Ozkan, Okan Yalabik, Taner Birsel and Ece Dizdar are in the cast. It is a Turkish production. The cave scenes were shot over three nights of diving in Kas, in Antalya. Kerem Bursin trained for two weeks with the Turkish navy for the military scenes. The narrative runs in two times; the journey of today is cut against the marriage of the past. The matter it treats is keeping a promise; a task is put in the place of mourning. The film does not dwell on the illness and puts its weight on what comes after. The underwater photography is the strongest thing in it. The narrative is open to melodrama and supports the feeling with music. The ending offers a closing and leaves nothing open. Its limit is predictability; the narrative follows a familiar story of grief and surprises little. Who it is for: viewers who like Turkish melodrama and films set at sea. Who it is not for: it is predictable, heavy on emotional pressure, and the ending sad.