10 DAYS OF A GOOD MAN

Turkey, 2023, 124 minutes, Colour.

Nejat Isler.

Directed by Ulux Bayraktar.

A Turkish private eye drama, based on a novel by Mehmet Eroglu who co-wrote the screenplay.

As with any private eye story, there are complexities, wheels within wheels. Nejat Isler plays Sadik who admires the American private eye stories, having a copy of Robert Altman’s version of Raymond Chandler’s The Long Goodbye on his television, a big poster behind it, close-ups of Elliot Gould as Marlowe, Sally dialoguing with Marlowe about his case and what Marlowe would do.

It emerges that Sadik has spent time in jail, taking the rap for his wife and her business deals, her divorcing him and remarrying, and again becoming involved in shady deals with her new husband. She also tells Sadik that she is pregnant.

However, the audience has been alerted with a bizarre sequence at the opening of the film, two masked characters in ritual costume and dance, attacking a victim, with knives, slitting his throat – and then seeing the body being buried. The victim is a young man, Tevfik, whose mother is anxious about her son’s disappearance, ask a former colleague of Sadik to employ him to investigate and find her son.

As indicated by the title, the action takes place over 10 days, each signalled clearly.

But, there is quite a range of characters. Sadik at one stage is abducted and brought to confront a man who calls himself Sir, brutal, seen torturing victims with a grotesque spanner like tool. And he has various henchman who reappear throughout the film. Then there is the sister of the man who has disappeared, angry with her mother, teaming up with men, very assertive, wanting money for education, tangling with Sadik but eventually on side with him supplying information, her brother’s phone…

Then there is the husband of the solicitor who asked him to take on the job, also with criminal connections. And, there is the underage prostitute who lives in the building where Sadij lives, naive, ingenuous, helped by Sadik and beginning a relationship with him. And, he has many dreams, to the music of Vivaldi’s various seasons, of living in luxury life on a tropical island.

For those who enjoy the complexities of the private eye genre, there is much to keep the interest going, especially when the masked characters of the prologue are unmasked, albino twins who are seeking ultimate pleasure which they know comes from evil.

However, Sadik is able to confront those who need confronting, refuses to help his ex-wife and records a confession from her husband, arranges all kinds of setups when the disappeared man appears, Sir and his henchmen, the twins, a violent confrontation.

While it seems that he can go on his island trip with a friend, an actress, and the young prostitute whom he has rescued, there is to be a sequel: 10 Days of a Bad Man.

1. A Turkish thriller, private eye investigation?
2. The Turkish settings, the city, contemporary, modern in style, very Western? No glimpses of the monuments or the touristic aspect of Turkey? In the dreams of the tropical island, the rowing boat, the companion, Vivaldi’s four seasons?
3. The 10 day structure, audiences identifying with this, the days passing, the developments? The time pressure for a resolution?
4. Sadik as the private eye, his apartment, his devotion to The Long Goodbye, Elliot Gould as Philip Marlowe, on the television, Sadik always watching him, conversing with him about his case? The landlady and her complaints? The young girl, prostitute, his helping her, beginning a relationship with her? The actress, the friendship over many years, her memory fading, her career fading, friendship?
5. The prologue, the masks, the costumes, the murder, the burial? The young man, his mother concerned, her contact with the solicitor, the solicitor persuading Sadik to take on the case, his visit to the mother, her devotion to her Nightingale son, meeting Pinar, her age, manner, saucy, money for education, her relationship with the solicitor’s husband?
6. The complication with Sadik and his being abducted, the garage, the torture chamber and the victims, the tool? Sir, the confrontation, sodic making his case, promises to Sir, let go?
7. The complications with his ex-wife, going to jail for her, the business complications? Pregnancy issues? Her remarrying, the new husband, shady deals, the law after them, their wanting Sadik to take the rap and go to jail again, the money? His confrontations with them, the husband’s confession, being taped, his abandoning his wife?
8. The solicitor, friendship with Sadik, contact, her husband, his behaviour, offenders? The divorce, Sadik promising compromising photos?
9. Pinar, her connections, behaviour, change of heart, Sadik helping her, money for education, her giving him her brother’s phone with the links?
10. The phone call, the woman, her affair, Sadik trapping the missing man and the woman, tying them up, Sir and his thug, shooting him, the car? The visit to the twins, albinos, the comments, sadistic, the pleasure of evil?
11. Sakid his bringing everyone together, the confrontations, the burning of the house? His having the car, the money?
12. The solution, the decision to go for the island, the actress and the young girl? But the promise of a sequel…?