The greatest movie ever!

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Reha Erdem captures so much in a world almost barren of freedom, opportunity and dialogue. Humanity is everywhere here, and in many of its forms evokes emotion from the observer. The film portrays a life and people who are strong and hard, yet their charm is plentiful. The cast are excellent and the photography seems to be more than just aesthetically delightful. It successfully connects the viewer with the place. The position of the village with its incestuously small life in the huge open timeless landscape with the sea in the distance is constantly magnificent. It echoes the theme, much like the words of the old lady when we first meet her. There are moments of brutality and horror, such as the moment the young girl drops her sister. Delicate moments and vulgar behaviour is witnessed throughout. I particularly enjoyed the run down to the orchard and grazing field each time a child called to his or her father. Or the brushing of heads with the leaves of the tree outside the schoolteacher's house. There is much to see here, even beyond the wonderful children. I loved the two brothers (one good and competent, one not so much) and their interaction with their father. The town's council, the temperamental electricity, the old lady, the school children, and the shepherd boy etc. also fill this document with life. That is the essence of this film (allowing for the fact that I know nothing of Turkish village life.) It is a colourful and expertly made documentation of a Turkish village. Successful in almost every way.Keen to cast an eye over authentic Anatolia, it was slightly disappointing to learn the actress playing the teacher is actually half German, from Germany, and is a doctor and a model. Although this wasn't as noticeable as in the Iranian-Turkmen 'Frontier Blues' where the woman also looking out of place is actually English and even half Berber. Although despite these two discernable women, generally they didn't distract too much from the wonder of the respective settings. As this is a film bubbling with life and character, it can easily absorb its minor faults. Serving as Bresson-like interludes and probably signifying the death of childhood, the wonderful photography of the children in dead like poses in rubble, hay, and vegetation was seemingly parallel to the story's style of filming, and almost out of place. Much like the usually excellent Arvo Part's music which serves only to create an ominous feel or sense of unease which is perhaps the purpose of this odd choice of soundtrack. Whereas the call to prayer works very well.An excellent glimpse of somewhere in Anatolia. Mr. Erdem has acheived a beautiful ode to his beautiful homeland.

Two pre-teen boys and a girl endure pain caused by the inbred generational habits of their parents in Reha Erdem's minimalist Times and Winds. Set in the remote village of Kozlu in Northern Turkey overlooking the sea, the film reflects the traditions of the culture in which it occurs, showing how parents repeat the mistakes of their own parents and those that came before them. Times and Winds is shown in five parts beginning with night and ending with morning, mirroring the daily time that is divided by the sound of the call to Salah, the compulsory ritual prayer, performed five times each day after ablution. The film stresses the importance of religion and prayer in the life of the simple villagers but it is apparently not enough of an influence to prevent them from mistreating their children.Omer (Ozkan Ozen) holds feelings of bitterness towards his father, the local imam, who not so subtly favors his brother and is not hesitant to say how much smarter the younger boy is. Omer dreams of ways to kill his father – opening the window over his bed so his cough will worsen, emptying the capsules of the medicine he is taking for his illness, pushing him over a cliff, or simply getting together a group of local scorpions to pay him a visit. Omer's best friend Yakup (Ali Bey Kayali) is upset when he sees his grandfather constantly demean his father, calling him useless and lazy. Yakup also has a crush on his teacher (Selma Ergec) and refuses to wash the thumb that is stained with the teacher's blood from a foot mishap. When the boy sees his father furtively peeking into the window of his teacher's house, he is devastated.The boys' female cousin, Yildiz (Elit Iscan), has a strained relationship with her mother who favors her younger sister and uses her as a household slave. Though sexuality is barely touched on in the film, Yildiz is brought to confused tears when she hears her parents making love. Other scenes show the children's embarrassment when they watch animals mating in the field, reminiscent of the film Japon by Carlos Regadas, whose poetics seem to have been an influence in this film. Another boy, Davut (Tarik Sonmez), an orphan who is the town shepherd, shows the scars on his back to the town council after he is physically beaten by a villager, but can only cringe when they tell the offender that what he did was wrong but exact no punishment.Times and Winds has a poetic look and feel with beautiful pastoral scenes of the Turkish countryside in summer captured by cinematographer Florent Herry, but shots such as the children sleeping outdoors are repeated once too often to maintain interest. While the music of Arvo Part lends atmosphere, it is overly dramatic and is used to the point where it becomes irritating and distracting. In a film of this nature where there is little narrative drive, it seems that the ambient sounds of nature would have better served the director. Times and Winds has strong performances from its non-professional cast and contains some poignant moments that can be powerful, but Erdem seems to be trying too hard and the film lacks flow and the kind of emotional pull to make it truly memorable.

This film is surprisingly balanced in many ways. It manages to have quirky, humorous characters who are still pretty real and relatable. It manages to have a young star who is likable yet also has some evil thoughts. It's beautiful and slow, but not heavy and profound.All in all, a very worthy film. However there were a few awkward, overdone scenes that broke the spell for me. In particular, those with a father trying to make his good for nothing sons be useful. One makes do, but the other is both lazy and dumb. These characters never felt real....or even interesting.Also, a few moments were just a little too telegraphed; a little too obvious. When a girl is running with a little baby down a steep road, for instance...hmmm, I wonder what might happen?It depicts rural, small town life near the Turkish coast and, accordingly, moves at a pretty slow pace. Might be a bit slow for some, but should be enjoyable nonetheless. The current rating is over 9 points. Way too high, in my opinion, but this film is still a good time.

On day 6 of our Toronto Film Festival I have found my gem of the year. Last year it was "Cafe Transit" and this year "Times and Winds".Story follows several preteens in a small Turkish village. One boy imaginatively plots his father's death who mistreats him, one boy loves the village school teacher, and one girls life will change with the pending birth of new sibling. It is a story of the death of innocence meaning childhood and the journey into responsibility and adulthood. If I heard right, (??) the director said he either lived there/grew up in that village at one time. The child actors are wonderful for first roles. I seriously loved this film, very gently moving at most times with moments of the harshness of life thrown in.Also, movie is originally titled Times Five (or Five Times) which indicates the times they go to pray but they went with Time and Winds for the English translation.This was the 3rd Turkish film I have seen this year and can't get over the spectacular scenery in all the films. Makes you want to go to Turkey on a holiday.