A Pilgrimage to Cinema

More often than not, society imposes "acceptable" standards on how we should lead our lives: at what point we should finish our studies or get married or be filthy rich or achieve anything at all. It's like we are always obligated to look and feel good to everyone, to show to them that we did indeed achieve something. This has never been more pronounced than in this age of social media. But what if we choose not to live by such standards? What if we "normalize" leading a life where we don't have to prove anything to anyone? How about becoming that kind of anti-hero instead?  Such are the characters in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's films, which include 2011's "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia." That's why Ceylan's films are not to everyone's liking: they feel that the characters are just wasting away their lives, that they're not up to society's "standards." In lesser hands, "Once Upon a Time in Anatolia" would turn...