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

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

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

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

This is powerful filmmaking for discerning viewers.

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

With Three Monkeys, Nuri Bilge Ceylan trains his cool, detached sensibility on a ripe and pulpy melodrama that might have originated in a James M. Cain novel.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 1, 2009

If you're looking for an adultery- and revenge-fueled family melodrama so subdued that it keeps a hit-and-run fatality, cuckoldry, and murder entirely off screen, Three Monkeys is your movie and Nuri Bilge Ceylan your not-so-genre-inclined auteur.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Apr 30, 2009

Calling Three Monkeys a genre detour is putting it charitably; it's a downbeat dead end that reduces its talented maker to a mere shadow-play stylist.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/6 | Apr 30, 2009

The heavy mood of indolence and rage, calibrated with ellipses in action, is stifling -- everyone seems to move in a queasy haze.

| Apr 28, 2009

[Director Nuri Bilge] Ceylan takes a step towards the mainstream with a fiercely executed drama that hopefully will expand the ranks of his admirers.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Apr 24, 2009

Unpredictable and gratifying.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 27, 2009

[The film's] hauntingly slow rhythms underscore the immanent violence and impotent rage that cripple already attenuated lives.

| Mar 26, 2009

At times while watching it, I found myself fidgeting, my patience for long stare-offs exhausted; afterward, I couldn't stop thinking about it.

| Mar 13, 2009

Long, masterfully executed shots accompanied by minimal dialogue and a richly expressive soundtrack; subdued performances punctuated by violent bursts of emotion; and a confident trust in the combination of stark realism and unadorned melodrama.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Feb 19, 2009

Despite the strong performances he obtains from his actors here, and the way he keeps piquing our curiosity with ellipses and ambiguities, the film is not powerful enough to get away with that elaborate story line.

| Feb 19, 2009

Nuri Bilge Ceylan's subtle and fascinating Three Monkeys, a film in which a family's lies uncover a hidden honesty.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 19, 2009

It is certainly an engrossing work, it looks wonderful and every frame is dense with intelligence. There are stabs of interest and insight in every scene.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 13, 2009

Three Monkeys, could be reduced to a simple moral - never do a dodgy politician a favour - though its layering of ironies and wrong turnings render it more subtly disturbing than that précis might suggest.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 13, 2009

This is a fascinating transitional film from an intriguing director at the top of his game.

| Original Score: 4/6 | Feb 12, 2009