For a film with virtually no plot, there’s a lot of fuss going on in Oregon. The characters are constantly yelling and complaining, but the noise—like the plot, the set, and everything else about the film—is empty. The beauty of a Turkish summer is reduced to indoor sets, where much of the film takes place, and there here’s barely any movement, leaving us stuck with dialogue and half-baked backstories that don’t seem to serve any real purpose other than to fill in the film’s overlong runtime. The problems are superficial and solved almost immediately, purely by talking it seems, and there’s no attempt to connect the many disparate stories it shows. A farce like this could’ve worked if it got sillier and more ridiculous by the minute, but Oregon just goes in repetitive, unfunny circles.
Summer 1985, Istanbul. Hakan and Gaye want to give back a music tape to their friend Selen before they leave. Things won't go as planned.
Istanbul, 1985. When a young couple visiting their friend in the city are mistaken for trespassers, they have to prove their innocence with the help of their equally clumsy friends.
All that said, the actors almost make the film worthwhile. They inject the material with a lively energy, so even though they’re confined for the most part, the film never feels entirely flat. There’s an theatricality to the acting, too, that could’ve been exciting to see in a more realized film. Here, however, it just doesn’t fit.
Much Ado About Nothing, except it really, truly is about nothing.
