There's a lot going on in A Small September Affair. But first, the name in English... Well, it is not a great translation, because it gives something away which it should not. The word in Turkish "mesele" is best translated as "issue" or "problem" as in "there's the issue of what happened in September." Ordinarily, this is a good translation, but when, at the beginning, we are not supposed to have any idea about an affair, the title gives away that there is an affair, it is not such a great choice. In Turkish, the title does not imply an affair and one starts watching the film with the intended ignorance about any affair. The name of the leading female character is Eylul, which means September, so the title plays on the word successfully in Turkish.
The acting is done well, the music is perhaps overdone a bit in places, and the usual Turkish melodramatic tendencies are there, but all realistic enough (for after all, we are dealing with Turks here, so lack of sentimentality would be like asking Almodovar not to have anything campy in his films!) The plot is mysterious and successfully unraveled at a good pace. I was aware what the big reveal would be in the end half way into the film, but the film was engaging enough to keep me interested and wait to see how things would happen.
Perhaps my biggest complaint is the overwhelmingly stupid narration about ugly people and beautiful people. Ugly people are just dying for a look from beautiful people, and when they get that glance, they just fall in love right away, because ugly people have nothing else they value in their lives and so on. To add to this, the "ugly" male lead is not at all ugly, and the beautiful woman is a fake blond who is OK looking, but nothing special (I am aware she would still be considered special In Turkey...) It is NOT that difficult to find someone who is not traditionally "handsome" by many people's standards, yet the film has failed to do this. Together, the couple looks pretty good, if you ask me. He was horribly dressed in fisherman- looking beach wear most of the time, in an attempt, I am assuming, at making him look "ugly."
In the end, big points for a twisty plot that is well-paced. The whole sentimental ugly vs. beautiful people narration should have dealt with the real issues at hand: that the male lead was shy, antisocial, withdrawn, while the female character was fake, shallow, and unable to engage with other people in an emotionally fulfilling way. To attribute these fundamental characteristics to their ugliness or beauty makes one wonder how the writer can have such a shallow point of view.
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