Mustang (2015)

Powerful

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

The Film Mustang, is probably the best international film I have seen yet! I highly recommend this film for a feminine audience because it is about five young girls. It contained lots of suspense and I was always sympathizing for the girls because of their harsh living conditions. At first, I did not understand why the grandmother imprisoned the girls in the home, but I realized it was because the girls were doing unrighteous acts with boys at the beach. I noticed as each girls would get married, the family of the bride would host the wedding at their house, something that most don't do in the United States. In the United States, most weddings are held at a church or a special place reserved. I noticed that in this film, marriage was portrayed as a very big deal. As each girl came of age, or showed that they have reached womanhood, they would be married off. They didn't have to wait until they were 18, like we do in the U.S. In the United States, it is illegal to be married at any age under 18. In Turkey, marriage would be done as soon as possible. I also noticed that a girl could not get married if she wasn't a virgin. This film contained girls running away, or constantly trying to escape the household because they were under such strict rule. I don't think I would have acted any differently though. If I was living like that I would most likely want to run away, which is what the girls did at the end. I don't think I would have changed anything about the ending of this film because the girls looked at peace when they realized they were finally safe.

A poetic, tragic, somewhat hopeful portrayal of real life. Real life where unfortunately, some women are still 'unable' (not allowed) to make their own life choices. I saw the film having quite a few great expectations about it, taking into consideration the theme tackled, the important praise it has gathered so far from well known names and award institutions in the industry, and why not, the rating it got so far here on IMDb. These expectations were not met, I say because of two main aspects: 1. The uncertainty of some important events throughout the film. I understand the idea of 'less is more' and the idea of building the viewer's tension however, I do not want to imagine a scene where one of the sisters is (may be?) abused, if that is not the case. There were several occasions where I could not really tell what was going on in reality, and it bothered me. Same goes with some scenes where some of the girls would engage in different activities with some of the guys. It bothered me because I could not really have an idea of who is really the bad guy here, or what is actually happening, is it a sign of adolescent rebellion or is it something more to it. 2. The ending. It seems so unreal, so pathetic. The dream is fulfilled however it is really unrealistic. What are the chances of it being final? None. In conclusion I would say that the film is worth the while however, it is not one to stand out, at least not in my personal opinion.

Like the digits of a hand, these sisters are one. Their love and bond for one another is pure and complete brought closer together by the tragic loss of their parents and the harsh new realities of a life under the rule of the patriarchal and traditionalist uncle who sets out to arrange marriages for all of them as he fears the local society's judgement on their supposed transgressions which are amplified in his censorious mind. An emotively charged story unfolds in a film with truly mesmerising acting by all girls alike under the direction of what one would expect to be a master filmmaker yet only her first full feature film.

I must say Deniz Gamze Eruven's movie had an impact on me. But I suspect this might be due to the subject matter rather than script or directing. I'm Turkish, we do have child marriage problem thus I was interested in seeing this movie. But the movie has so many problems with its script, directing and acting (although acting problems could be due to bad script and directing) I must say this movie could have been a lot better.First I must commend Erguven on one important positive aspect of the movie which is being balanced. It is a movie about a depressing subject but the director did a good job on not creating an all dark movie.However, as being balanced makes the movie more realistic the artificial dialogue makes it quite unrealistic. The movie is in Turkish however to me it seems like the script was written in a foreign language first (probably French) than was translated into Turkish. Neither the girls nor the grandmother have the slightest of rural accent. There were moments where I felt these girls are from an upscale city family and their biggest problem is getting the latest iPhone, not being locked up in a house or being forcefully married to a stranger in early ages. Secondly with the exception of little Elif the movie lacks character development, it's a bit too short for depicting five sisters with serious problems.