Happy Friday!
I actually have a very not happy but still very beautiful film to share with you today.
I watched it for the first time just a few years ago as part of some film series at the Lincoln Center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. If I had a particularly difficult day, I would take the subway (how very March 2020) all the way from Brooklyn to try and catch that magic 7:15pm showing of whatever was playing.
On this particular day, Mustang was up. I knew very little about the film—just that, judging by the poster, it looked to be like The-Virgin-Suicides-but-make-it-Turkish. Lucky for me, it ended up being more like The-Virgin-Suicides-but-make-it-good-poignant-substantive-interesting-and-more-than-just-a-collection-of-stills-for-Tumblr. But this isn’t about the age old beef between me and Sofia Coppola movies. It’s about… wait what is this about? OH! Right…
Director Deniz Gamze Ergüven gave us a beautiful and painful film about young women fighting to come of age despite everyone feeling so comfortable telling girls how to be. Resilience and darkness live side by side in this film, a struggle so brilliantly portrayed by the young, talented cast.
Make some time for Mustang this weekend. Pretend like it’s 7:15pm on some random Tuesday and you’re at the Lincoln Center alone and two very wealthy-looking septuagenarians are discussing the Columbus Circle Whole Foods and you’re just happy that someone in the world has the energy to make art and that you have the energy to choose it.
You can watch Mustang on Criterion Channel, Kanopy, or rent it on YouTube.