Midnight at the Pera Palace

Don't mind the negative comments too much. . This is not a serious time travel movie but more a past - present time mixed fantasy kind one. Early 1900's istanbul scenes mixed with the late 20th century pop music is the one example. I am being a time travel movies fan, I have seen many American or western films of this kind but when a turkish film becomes to have the similar plot and the narrative style, the Turkish audience rejects it. The Turks would have appreciated this film if it had been of Western origin but they only criticizes this film because it belongs to their same country. A strange characteristic paradox. Hazal Kaya with her joyful childlike acting deserves more positive comments I think in a fantastic kind film and fits his role very well and both the photography and the staging and the cinematography are as fabulous as the costumes of the time. Also the interesting plot with a curious continuity. Don't wait for a masterpiece but there are many things to enjoy you inside.

Reviewers are thinking the lead role has done poor acting, but the actual problem is the script. The character Esra is a journalist who wants to do something big in the world, but she talks and acts likes a 5 year old or less. The character herself is portrayed as the biggest idiot of Istanbul, so we cant blame the actress for this. She was just acting the way the script demanded it to be. Sometimes I felt I was watching the film, 'The Princess Bride' or some movie of that kind. It's like a parody and is filled with potholes.

I am writing this review after watching the 5th episode of the show and unable to take the poor screenplay...

I have never watched a Turkish show before. It appears many other reviews were familiar with the main actress, I was not. Many reviews said her acting ruined the show, while I didn't think she was superb, I didn't find it bad- this may also be because any overacting I attributed more to the dubbing as it seemed vocal in nature. Speaking of, the dubbing was good, only a few small instances did I find it distracting.

I should have watched a bit more attentively as there are a couple things I have questions on that may have actually been answered I just missed it.

The dates and times jump around and it's just a quick title on the screen, it would have been helpful for it to be up longer or like hey folks here is the timeline. As an American not well-versed in Turkish history, the dates and timing weren't meaningful to me and maybe made it harder to appreciate.

The setting was stunning. It's a gorgeous hotel in Istanbul. The set design was amazing as were the costumes and they did such a great job differentiating the different years, even those that were closer together. It was a beautiful series to watch.

I gave it 7/10. From the last episode it would appear we are expecting or wanting another season. The first episode plays on the correlation to Agatha Christie but it's only mentioned once or twice after. I also wish the set up for how she got to the hotel and whatnot would have been a bit better done.

It's a good story with twists wrought by time jumps which initially might tend to confuse the viewer. For a while, the story wavers before picking up pace towards the latter third of the show.

A story that links Turkey's founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is invariably fascinating as Turkey is a fascinating country. The story takes place just 4 years before he becomes the first president of the Republic of Turkey.

The set design and costumes are amazing. Meticulous effort has been expended to capture the tone and vibes of the period.

Hazel Kaya and Tansu Bicer are a good team, and the viewer avidly follows their extraordinary adventure.

I'm in love with this show! I find that time travel stories can get quite confusing, but felt that overall this show does well with not throwing everything at you at once and giving you a chance to understand what's happening.

It has moments that seem a little silly at first, but I found that I enjoyed that aspect of it once I got a handle on what they were going for. It's not meant to be an overly serious mood. The characters are interesting, the costumes and sets are gorgeous, and it's just a fun time.

On my first viewing, I watched with the English dub. If you are an English speaker, I definitely recommend doing the same to follow the plot more easily. I've heard some pretty poorly-done dubs, but this one was GREAT. I almost forgot I was listening to a dub most of the time even though the audio obviously doesn't match up with the lip movements. Kudos to the English voice actors for their performances!!!