Beyond the Multiplex

I'd heard so much hype about Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "Climates," as it made its tour of major world film festivals, that I went in expecting the cloned offspring of Bergman and Renoir. Let's take it down a notch. Contrary to what you may read elsewhere, "Climates" is not a masterpiece, a word that gets pompously thrown around a lot at pictures few paying customers actually want to see. It is, rather, a meticulous study of a crumbling relationship, marked by many luminous small moments and a startling interruption of violent eroticism.

Ceylan himself, a doleful, handsome fellow in the vein of Robert Mitchum or Jean-Paul Belmondo, plays Isa, an Istanbul university professor (it's academic week!) who seems stuck in adolescent patterns. On an Aegean seaside vacation, Isa breaks up with his girlfriend Bahar (Ebru Ceylan, the director's real-life wife), and somewhat later, after a steamy interlude with a friend's sexpot girlfriend, he flies to a remote snowbound region of eastern Turkey to try to win her back. That's pretty much it. There's not much talking and even less back story, although we gather that the pal's gal with the slinky stockings has played a role in the drama before.

More than anything, "Climates" is a pictorial mood piece, slightly reminiscent of Antonioni but with more warmth and sadness. We watch Isa clambering through ruins (he studies ancient architecture) or Bahar sitting alone staring out at the ocean. The mood is essentially one of loneliness and despondency; whether this couple is getting back together or not seems, frankly, like a meaningless question. Every visual and sonic detail is managed with tremendous skill, and this is a memorable film on a relatively small scale. It's not Ceylan's fault that too many international critics are using his picture to demonstrate their superior patience and taste. (Opens Oct. 27 in New York and Nov. 10 in Los Angeles, with other cities to follow.)

Veteran Hong Kong director Johnnie To remained in the city after it was returned to China in 1997, and stayed on after the near-collapse of Hong Kong's legendary film production system. While John Woo, for instance, has failed to make a distinctive mark in Hollywood and has become an increasingly isolated figure, To has become one of the biggest names in Chinese-language cinema. I don't know whether "Triad Election," his ambitious new crime opera, will draw American viewers or not, but it's a rich spectacle.

There are clear similarities between "Triad Election" (known in most of the world as "Election 2," a sequel to To's 1995 "Election) and Francis Coppola's "The Godfather Part III," but To insists this is more a matter of convergence than imitation. Jimmy (played by Hong Kong fashion model and pop star Louis Koo) is a suave young business leader anxious to escape his criminal past and jump into some Trump-scale real estate deals. His uncles in the shadowy Triad organization aren't so sure; they want him to defeat the power-mad current Triad chairman, Lok (Simon Yam), who is defying tradition and running for reelection.

That's right: Jimmy wants to get out, and they're dragging him back in! Full-fledged gang war erupts (somewhat confusingly, I am afraid, for the Western viewer), and our ardent young capitalist winds up with blood on his hands, both literally and otherwise. To has mastered the Scorsese trick of staging poetic acts of brutal violence to music, and the gruesome climax of "Triad Election" is not to be forgotten. To can be grateful that Chinese authorities have left Hong Kong's movie biz alone; I don't think his portrayal of corrupt, criminalized mainland authorities will be playing in Beijing anytime soon. (Opens nationally in January.)

Next page: "Alice in Wonderland" meets "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre"?