It's Dizdar, who won the best actress award at Cannes for her efforts, who steals the show and brings a steely heart to Ceylan's sad-sack black comedy.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 19, 2024

The film imposes on itself at times, reproving points that felt sufficiently made earlier on, and drags on seemingly not knowing what is completely necessary to keep and what scenes are not needed to prove the points the film wants to make.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 20, 2024

Cinephiles will rejoice at the arrival of an art-house event movie, and the return of Ceylan’s painterly eye and stark philosophy. His grip can be hypnotic.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 7, 2024

Eventually the snow lifts, but meanwhile the hearts of the people have been stunted and dried up, like the ruins of a once-mighty civilisation that can now be visited, and who knows what can happen?

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 30, 2024

Tiptoes around the edge of being suffocatingly verbose, and there are scenes that could stand a tighter edit. Still, the meaty, novelistic writing and exceptional quality of the performances make for a rich and engrossing viewing experience.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 29, 2024

The vigorous, masterful script, written by the director his wife and frequent collaborator Ebru Ceylan, counterpoints the extended runtime. The director says he could have made the film longer; remarkably, most viewers will agree.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jul 27, 2024

The epic length of the film for what’s essentially a chamber piece isn't a problem because the twists and turns of Samet’s personality are compelling.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 26, 2024

Those who like their morality dramas meaty and unhurried will get on very well with this latest masterwork from Ceylan.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 25, 2024

It would be a waste to see About Dry Grasses anywhere other than on the largest screen, in the darkest cinema. It not only repays the time, it makes a change of pace nothing less than a moral recalibration.

| Jul 25, 2024

Hope, disappointment, self-discovery: they’re all in here, along with, in the end, the dry grasses. Some will consider the film a masterpiece; others an ordeal. I’d lean towards the former but would also offer this advice: take sandwiches.

| Jul 25, 2024

About Dry Grasses patiently follows the stilted flows and elliptical eddies of its characters’ lives to deepen our understanding of their discontent.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jul 22, 2024

Darkly funny stories turn, his characters reveal more and more unexpected facets, through actions but also through ripening talk and richly suggestive ellipsis: Ceylan turns his pages with a novelist’s patience.

| Original Score: 10/10 | Jul 4, 2024

The plot threads come together and then unravel as the story moves along slowly through its 197-minute running time... This movie wouldn’t have been harmed by a little script cutting, which might have sharpened the characters and made them more vivid.

| Jun 27, 2024

There isn’t a boring frame in the film.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 8, 2024

It’s 197 minutes, drags in spots, but has these masterful scenes scattered throughout.

| Original Score: B+ | May 25, 2024

"About Dry Grasses" is a slippery film that reveals enough to make judgments but withholds enough never to feel confident in them.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 28, 2024

This would be a great double feature with The Teacher's Lounge (2023).

| Mar 22, 2024

It's very patient storytelling, but I really enjoyed it... He's not a particularly likable character, but the movie does a great job of showing you where he's coming from.

| Mar 22, 2024

In many ways a compendium of Ceylan's cinema, About Dry Grasses repeats themes, settings, and images from as far back as his first feature, The Small Town.

| Mar 22, 2024

Is About Dry Grasses about a work scandal, a love triangle, or is it truly about dry grasses? The answer is elusive, and the ideal viewer will stop asking what Ceylan's film is about and accept it for what it is: a masterpiece.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 20, 2024