Clouds of May

"Clouds of May" (Mayıs Sıkıntısı, 1999) is a Turkish drama you can watch online on iFILM, the second feature from Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Muzaffer (Muzaffer Özdemir) arrives in his small hometown with a plan: make a film and cast his own family in the roles.

While he sets up shots and coaxes his relatives through scenes, the life around him runs on its own timetable. Nine-year-old Ali is still carrying an egg in his pocket without breaking it — Muzaffer promised him a musical watch if he makes it forty days. His father is quietly fighting officials who want to cut down the garden he has tended for fifty years. His cousin Saffet just needs help getting a job in Istanbul.

Ceylan shot on natural light with his actual family as actors, in the town where he grew up. The film thinks about time and loss without ever announcing it — you feel something slipping away before anyone names it. Stream "Clouds of May" (1999) online on iFILM.