A darkly lyrical film, filled with muddled morality, family angst and shady deeds.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 7, 2019

Three Monkeys is a singularly unpleasant piece of work, best avoided unless you're into that sort of thing.

| Aug 9, 2018

Three Monkeys is a peculiarly nationalistic eulogy, because what lies at the heart of this nationalism isn't pride in national identity, but rather a quintessentially humanistic stance. It's a recognition of the people's ambivalence and failings.

| Mar 19, 2018

It's a strong story, with a slow but inexorable momentum. Ceylan has marshalled a quartet of superb performances.

| Jan 2, 2018

Three Monkeys is not without certain melodramatic flaws, but they are absorbed by the film's stylistic plausibility, by the way the framing and the stunning use of digital photography creates its own sort of psychological reality.

| Sep 26, 2017

Talky without many words, a slow revelation of situation, character depth and relationships within a reduced framework, that taken together will remind the thoughtful of the Ingmar Bergman approach.

| Nov 13, 2014

| Original Score: 0/5 | Jan 14, 2010

The noirish plot doesn't quite jibe with characters this inscrutable; all you really know about them is that they appear incapable of honesty.

| Jul 31, 2009

The film is photographed in a noirish style, but it is so plodding that no part of it is the least bit thrilling.

Full Review | Jul 21, 2009

If you like foreign films nearly two hours in length that are one long lingering shot, then "Three Monkeys" is for you.

Full Review | Jul 21, 2009

Three Monkeys... is the latest eyeful from director Nuri Bilge Ceylan, one of a handful of international directors deserving of the title artist.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 17, 2009

Three Monkeys proves again that [Nuri Bilge] Ceylan has the eye of an artist, with a soul to match. If only his storytelling skills were equally represented.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 17, 2009

Ceylan finds moments of stunning visual composition and his cast truly delivers, so art-house audiences will more than likely be satisfied by Three Monkeys, even if it's not a knockout punch.

| Jul 17, 2009

Everything bubbling under the surface mostly stays there, while the soap opera-esque film very slowly becomes a pulp drama without any juice.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jul 16, 2009

An elegant exercise with four characters trapped by class, guilt and greed.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jul 16, 2009

There are enough ponderous moments that you may find yourself resisting the heavy mood.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jun 26, 2009

Tells an old-fashioned, melodramatic story, but director Nuri Bilge Ceylan does so vividly. . . A moral morass is a bit overwrought, but is revealed through visual poetry.

| Original Score: 8/10 | May 5, 2009

Stylish cinematography along with decent performances don't compensate for an often tedious plot that lacks any real tension, imagination or palpable poignancy.

| Original Score: 5.0/10 | May 2, 2009

This is powerful filmmaking for discerning viewers.

| Original Score: 3/4 | May 1, 2009

Ceylan orchestrates all the elements of his film into a gripping experience of manipulation and retribution, with an ironic final twist.

| Original Score: 4/5 | May 1, 2009