User reviews

First of all, any person would rate or comment on this movie should understand that Hunting Season is not a $100+ million budget movie, or even $10 million! These men had only $4 million to spend on every single detail. Even so, regardless its tiny budget comparing to many Hollywood movie, this one is much more better than numerous Hollywood made. Brilliant director Yavuz Turgul's Hunting Season is really a great alternative for those people looking for something different. Also, this movie puts best Turkish actors all together. If Sener Sen, Cem Yilmaz and even Cetin Tekindor were born in the US, they would be world famous actors, and no doubt Sener Sen would be awarded Best Actor Oscar more than once...

As a writer and directer of many fine films, Yavuz Turgul should be quite happy with the results of Av Mevsimi. I don't speak much Turkish at all, but the film was easily understood since I'm a big fan of crime dramas and mysteries. This film does not disappoint.

Cem Yilmaz was outstanding as he stepped into a more serious role which is quite rare. I beg to see him in more roles of this nature in the future. His talent exceeds even those of his US counterparts. Sener Sen is quite the actor as usual. It's always an honor to see him perform. A new face adding balance to the storyline was Okan Yalabik. Never to be considered a 'bumbling rookie', he merely provided an atypical side to the feature portraying a rookie struggling to find his niche in life.

Outstanding film with much applause. My thanks goes out to my dear wife for taking me out for a day at the movies.

Well, let me be brief. There are downsides but the overall movie is quite good. Especially the beginning was very well done. The acting was pretty good but the story was not as strong as it could be. At the middle of the movie, the reason of the murder was so clear that I must say it ruined the rest of the movie. They could add a twist at the end but they follow a straightforward story line and the movie ends exactly where you would expect. Apart from this, the movie fulfills the expectations. The soundtracks are quite nice, the cinematography is stunning, the atmosphere is given very well and the character development phase is pretty good. If you are bored of crappy Hollywood movies, this one is a quite nice alternative.

Very good Turkish movie. Atmosphere was great, actors, actress were great.

Perfect acting, perfect musics, perfect story. Before everything it's have best atmosphere in Turkhis movies. It's so funny and same time so sad.

This is the film that Yavuz Turgul's works in the police style this time, always having problems such as social transformation, development, decay. In the film, Şener Şen plays a well-intentioned, brave-hearted, sensible, disturbing character as it was in his previous films.

The most serious conflict of the av season is between the idealist police officer ferman (şener şen), the business man who came from Adana and later became wealthy, Battal bey (tough tekindor). This is a conflict we are accustomed to seeing in the cinema of yavuz turgul. Eşkiya Movie (baran and berfo) and Muhsin Bey Movie (Muhsin Bey and Laz Nurettin).

Yavuz turgul used the detective style only as a backdrop. Main theme, social events, rich - poor - middle class morality (if any). Is a middle-class man who is often oppressed in his films. Because what we call 'morality' is a value of the middle class. The moral definitions of upper and lower classes are very variable.

The film ends with a sad optimism as if it were in other turgul movies; Justice has been partially found but many lives and values ​​ have been lost.

Well, to be honest I was expecting much more of this from Yavuz Turgul, after Gönül Yarası and Eşkiya. Besides some certain wrong connotations and wrong ways of acting, the movie's overall fluctuating search for a rhythm make me said this. What you expect from a police thriller is tension and curiosity, but I've lost both in the middle of the movie. The story of the homicide policemen took its place in the core, and I forgot the story of late Pamuk. The good part of the movie was its uniqueness, while Turkish cinema followers are not familiar to watch such genre in Turkish Cinema. I hope it'd be a good start and the level goes up every time. For Turgul, I hope there will be another masterpiece in two years. For Sener Sen, there is not much to say, however in the start the preaching part seems so artificial, it seems Sen is reading from a prompter, but for the rest, he's the best. Cem Yılmaz is still striving to become an actor, but he's done a good job also, especially the sad moments. For the rest of the cast, there seems not so brilliant acting to me. In conclusion, the movie is worth watching for Sener Sen and for its being unique for Turkish Cinema. And if you want to enjoy it more, forget it's a Yavuz Turgul movie, than you'll expect less. Best Wishes

Too obvious flow of events should have been compensated with psychological depth in characters, too dramatic and over verbalized dialogs didn't sound convincing at all, even though Turgul's language is not up to date and too plastic at times , fair drama quality prevails as always, some very powerful scenes, despite the unnecessary length of scenes performances of all actors will make it worth watching Director of photography did a very good job! sound editing is not extra ordinary but delivers the needed quality. Funniest Turkish stand-up comedian , cartoonist, director Cem Yilmaz once again stretching as an artist and totally rocking his 'not' funny but troubled personality of Idris

i strongly advice Tugrul's true master piece...a milestone of Turkish cinema 'Eskiya' (1996 ) with his favorite actor Sener Sen

After many boring worthless Turkish movies Turgul made his latest masterpiece. Perfect story and storytelling, extra ordinary casting, wonderful photographing... Cem Yilmaz who is best Turkish Stand-up comedian shows us very ordinary Police officer with excellent acting. People who is waiting any joke from him during 2 hour may be disappoint. Sener Sen is also another Comedy player but after movie I am sure that no one will remember him as a comedy player. There is many word to tell about the movie. My writing skill in English is not enough to express my critics. Sorry. Finally I hope we will not wait long time for another Turgul Movie. Thank you Master Turgul

The movie is set in one of the Homicide Dept.in Istanbul, and we have three homicide detectives as leads and each of them represent 3 different eras. Those leads are Sener Sen, Cem Yilmaz and Okan Yalabik. They play their parts considerably well, and we have great director Yavuz Turgul which altogether is a great promise. But that promise is never fulfilled by the weak plot of the movie. We see the crime and we see the clue right in the middle of the movie. That clue ruined me the better experience which movie was promising in the beginning. Cem Yilmaz' acting was good but sometimes felt that he was overacting. Still his versatility stuns us. Sener Sen was great as always in such underwritten role. He plays so easily and creates truly believable character. Okan Yalabik doesn't shine as a rookie cop, but still shows some potential. Cetin Tekindor is great as a main antagonist. But as I said before movie fails to keep its promise due to its weak and predictable script. Overall the movie is OK for a one-time watch

This movie is an attempt to create a modern Turkish detective movie, which also aims to demonstrate a moody atmosphere. There's almost no Turkish detective movie to trace back that would help us to compare, so we can assume this movie tries to accommodate an approach. It's not an easy task, since our view is hugely affected by Hollywood movies. The movie indicates Turkish lifestyle, traditions, relationships and death.

The very thing you might appreciate about this film is probably acting - but not the acting by minor characters. Cem Yilmaz, in particular, exhibits the most notable performance in this movie. Other major characters' performances vary from "almost good" to "so so". Minor characters' performances are generally "below so so" with some exceptions.

While the plot is not the strongest aspect of this movie, the revealing of the story makes things a little more mediocre. You may even sense the atmosphere is crumbling beyond a point. Nevertheless, there are no unnatural absurdities, no unnecessary exaggerations and no forced heroes. Some of the nuances and references are amusing or interesting and they're enhancing the experience.

The genre is somewhat new for Turkish cinema. What do I mean? First of all, expectations should not be high. And second, introducing a movie in an unexplored genre makes things interesting, makes it a different experience. Yes, there are so many better movies from Turkish cinema, from Yavuz Turgul or from this genre. But just don't keep your expectancies too high, you may actually enjoy this movie.

It is good in a lot of ways included acting especially cem yilmaz was very good. It is good to see him playing serious roles i wish he would choose roles like this more often.

After found a young girl's body investigation starts or u can say get fire on.... A protogonist investigator and his 2 colleagues try to find the killer but it's not a easy task.. This is perfect benchmark movie for investigation movies... It's like good investigation novel... All castings are good ... Must watch investigation thriller..!!

Read the full review on my blog max4movies: Av Mevsimi (International title: Hunting Season) is a crime drama about the murder of a teenage girl and the subsequent incrimination of her wealthy husband. The movie has a thrilling premise, the main cast is generally good, and it features even some memorable scenes, especially the scenes between the veteran detective and his prime suspect. Often, the movie feels incoherent, though, with some oddly humoristic moments, weak side characters, and redundant or unfitting elements. Together with the somewhat predictable plot, this makes for a generally decent but flawed crime drama.

Like the other great Turgul & Şen movies Eşkıya, Gönül Yarası and Kabadayı; Av Mevsimi (hunting season in English) has already enrolled to most Turkish people's favorite movies list. No one can disagree that Şener Şen is today's best actor in Turkey and has become a legend. Besides his wonderful performance, the contributions from Cem Yılmaz and Çetin Tekindor (he is a great actor too!) made this film unforgettable. Cem Yılmaz, whom we are familiar with stand-up shows, proved that he can be serious if he wants. Especially, Cem Yılmaz was outstanding where he and Çetin Tekindor were in a battle royal. Melisa Sözen, who played the only important woman role, saved the movie from being a men's movie. We are looking forward to see new Turgul & Şen movie, please do not make us wait too long!

A hand of a female girl happens to appear at the woods. The senior officer along with his partner in investigation appear at the site along with a newbie. Investigation progress along with the personal life's of the the three investigators. The movie goes through some magnificent personal trauma. The rest is , will they find the rest of the body and catch the murderer and lock him up.

Performance wise sener sen is fabulous along with cemal hunal. Great cinematography and whole total good predictable and dramatic thriller to watch. Director cagam imrak has given a wonderful movie to watch. Especially at the climax scene where the chief meets the culprit ,they take a walk and revels the entire crime. The dialogues are meanted carefully in order to suite the situation.

Av Mevsimi (Hunting Season) is in certain terms as good as a production can get in Turkey: great cast, great cinematography, great sets, state of the art technology unfortunately though the great production could not be translated into a good movie. Yavuz Turgul is a masterful screenwriter, the best in Turkish cinema history for sure. He knows his mathematics very well. He was time and again proved this since Muhsin Bey. There is no hole in his scripts which is impossible for other Turkish films and scripts that contain more holes than swiss cheese. Mr Turgul has had the self made fortune of collaborating with Sener Sen for over 30 years now! Sener Sen has not appeared in any movie that was not written by Turgul. Hopefully after this his mind will change. Because as masterful as Mr Turgul is with script mathematics he is just as unimaginative and lacks creativity when it comes to tuning that mathematics with great story lines, engaging characters and witty developments. Unfortunately he keeps repeating himself and regardless of whether he is writing about an old time bandit (eskiya), a teacher who has returned to his Istanbul home after years at Anatolia outskirts (gönül yarası), a Mafioso who still embraces old ethic codes like a samurai (kabadayı) or as with this picture about a forensic chief he is depending on the same main character and similar web of story lines. Every main character Mr Turgul created since Eskiya have been the same and unfortunately he alone has access to Turkey's tour de force actor Sener Sen. The acting and directing in the movie has been the most disappointing aspects of the picture for me: at times the acting is raw, at times authentic and at other times comical (Çetin Tekindor's delivery of last lines). The Turkish media and critics that is composed of a few monkeys scratching each other's back and never writing anything bad about bad movies made by influential people has of course spoken of this picture too as a 'masterpiece'. Unfortunately it is not! Especially the acting of Cem Yılmaz, a loved persona by myself too, doesn't get better than any of the characters from Turkish police TV series such as Arka Sokaklar. The storyline never gets interesting or clever. At an age when CSI and similar TV series are putting such emphasis on the storyline, Hunting Season manages to be as interesting as an episode of CSI NY, and nothing more. Compared to Millennium Trilogy it is a movie for people who have no idea about the genre. The music selection was good but Mr Turgul has for the first time agonized me with his use of music as a mood pusher. The music always makes itself more than apparent! Which is very sad as the use of music has always been one of Mr Turgul's strenghts. Editing and the overly washed light footage are other inconsistent elements of the movie. At times the editing reminds one of Svankmayer's pieces: creating an alter persona through blurring of images and movement of the camera close to the face however this (as with Tekindor's last scene) makes the movie more comical than anything! The worst aspect yet of the movie was the unnecessary voice over! If anyone catches the meaning of that voice over please explain as all it did was push feelings down the throat of the audience in arabesque ways and it didn't even have a finely tuned closure. 5 stars for what Mr Turgul means to Turkish Cinema and regardless of how disappointing he has been still the contribution Cem Yılmaz will have to the same art.

The movie has a very beautiful gloomy atmosphere. I can review About all the characters in the movie. It is a movie with a beautiful message through the metaphor of the hunt and the hunter. Actually, the psychological state of each character is different. They have beautifully reflected the feelings of arrogance, humility, anger, fear and innocence through the characters. The crime scenes are very realistic. They reflect the crime solving methods of the Turkish police. In addition, the incident in the movie has happened before. They captured the feeling of fear very well. I strongly recommend you watch it.