Times and Winds

Did the rest of Wellington know something we didn't? Or perhaps their research into festival films extended beyond the programme's "breathtakingly fresh" and "comic and dramatic force" and "ravishing visuals". Whatever the logic, this was by far the emptiest evening showing at the Embassy that we've been to - with good reason, we think.

Times and Winds is a depressing tale of inter-generational nastiness set in a pretty Turkish village. It centres around three twelve-year-olds and their families - focusing particularly on their irascible fathers who seem to spend their time being generally unpleasant. We learned early on that this is in all likelihood because their fathers were equally grumpy, ungrateful and generally unloving but this failed to evoke my sympathy, except for the children. Understandably, the children spend most of their time away from home, roaming the countryside. The countryside is gorgeous and the sky is staggeringly blue but the scenery doesn't redeem the film and nor do the goats, which are much more appealing than the humans. One of the boys spending his time plotting to kill his father is mildly diverting, but, as the rating suggests, there are better things to do with an evening than watch this film.

Anne's rating 1/5

Two of the grumpy fathers also have to put up with an unappreciative and hypercritical father of their own. There is a cute primary school teacher and great camera work but as Anne said I was always conscious of the time and my feelings toward the film weren't helped by the fragmented way the story was told.

Ian's rating 1/5