Parky at the Pictures (DVD 21/2/2019)

Each of Ceylan's features represents a report on the state of a nation, while also sharing a fascination with family life and the difficulty of finding a niche in an age of economic recession, instant communication and social fragmentation. But, while Kore-eda gets up close and personal to his characters, Ceylan opts for a watchful detachment that nevertheless counters frequent accusations of ducking the major political issues facing his homeland to offer a slyly trenchant assessment of life under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Leaving the coastal resort of Çanakkale after graduating from college, Sinan Karasu (Aydin Dogu Demirkol) returns to the provincial town of Çan, where his teacher father, Idris (Murat Cemcir), lives with his mother, Asuman (Bennu Yildirimlar), and sister Yasemin (Asena Keskinci). They are too busy watching soaps on TV to give Sinan much of a welcome. But Idris is delighted that his son has completed his degree and persuades him to accompany him on a visit to grandfather Recep (Tamer Levent), who is looking after his prized hunting dog. 

Having spent his life teaching, Idris is about to retire and wants to work Recep's small plot of land and has been digging a well to irrigate the property. But, even though a frog hops across their path, they have failed to strike water and Sinan confides his frustration when he drops in to see his maternal grandparents, Ramazan (Ercüment Balakoglu) and Hayriye (Özay Fecht). They mention that Idris has been gambling again and that his creditors are becoming impatient and Sinan urges his grandmother to keep hold of her savings and not try to bail his father out, even though his debts bring shame upon the family. 

Sinan has written an experimental novel and seeks sponsorship from the mayor, Adnan (Kadir Çermik), because getting a book published in modern Turkey isn't easy. As Adnan flips through the pages of the manuscript, Sinan concedes that the text is more of a personal reflection on his hometown than a tourist guide. Thus, while he mentions the nearby site of Troy and the Great War cemetery at Gallipoli, he treats them no differently to the wild pear trees, as a starting point for his musings. Regretting that he can't dip into the tourism budget unless the content relates directly to the region, Adnan suggests that Sinan pays a call on Ilhami (Kubilay Tunçer), who has a sand quarry in the hills. 

While walking through the autumnal countryside, Sinan hears old classmate Hatice (Hazar Ergüçlü) calling to him. She is picking walnuts and he doesn't recognise her because she has covered her hair with a scarf. They talk about old times and she takes umbrage when he declares that he won't be hanging around with the bigots who fall into line behind anything the authorities tell them. Surprised that she didn't continue her studies, Sinan asks Hatice why she doesn't follow his lead and leave. But she reveals that she's engaged to a jeweller and has no option but to go through with the match. 

The wind rustles the leaves, as the sun twinkles through them and Hatice asks Sinan for a cigarette. They shelter under the branches as they smoke, in case they are spotted by her co-workers. Suddenly, Hatice removes the scarf and loosens her long, dark hair. She starts to cry and, when Sinan tries to console her, she kisses him and bites his bottom lip. He is taken aback, but barely has time to react before Hatice is called away and she ties her scarf before walking away without a backward glance.

As he heads back through a scruffy neighbourhood, Sinan calls a pal who has joined the police. He looks out across Çan and wishes he could drop a bomb on the place. His friend tells him about laying into some left-wing protesters and jokes about beating a particularly small man with his riot shield. They laugh and the voice on the other end of the line asks Sinan when he's due to take his teaching qualification exam. He admits that he regrets not being able to further his own education, but is glad to have a job with a future and teases Sinan about messing up and being forced to take a teaching post in some backwater in the Asian east of the country. 

Mooching into a café, as the rain begins to fall, Sinan spots Hatice's ex-boyfriend, Riza Ahmet (Rifat Sungar). However, he sits on the opposite side of the room and pretends to read the paper. Having watched a bride under a red veil (perhaps Hatice) embark upon her new life, the group piles into a car and drives into the hills. Riza guzzles beer while sitting on a rock overlooking the lake and Sinan can't resist taunting him about Hatice finding another man. They argue about whether Sinan was jealous because he made a failed play for Hatice himself and the pair have to be separated after Riza loses his temper. 

On the morning of the exam, Asuman has to borrow money from a neighbour so Sinan has the fare to get to the venue. Idris walks to the bus station with him and gives him advice on how to tackle the paper. However, he is more interested in getting hold of some cash to place a bet and cajoles his son into handing over a few lira so that he can buy a meatball sandwich. Jumping off the bus to check where his father has gone, Sinan sees him chatting animatedly with two men across the square and realises that he is in over his head. 

Leaving the exam early, Sinan goes to a waterfront café to collect a bag he had left behind the counter. He bumps into Nevzat (Sencar Sagdic), an old man doing calculations in a notebook to see how far he can make his weekly allowance go. He tells Sinan that life is tough on the margins, but the twentysomething is too young and preoccupied to heed his warning. Instead, he heads to a large bookshop to sell what he hopes is a rare volume. However, the bookseller reminds him that things don't acquire value simply because they are old. 

Looking up, Sinan spots celebrated author Süleyman (Serkan Keskin) working on the balcony. He explains that they had met during a literary symposium and asks if he can sit down. Too polite to refuse, Süleyman expresses courteous interest in Sinan's manuscript and resists the temptation to smile when he describes it as an `autofiction meta-novel'. However, he concedes that it isn't easy to publish a first book, as novices are always convinced that the world is longing to hear what they have to say.

Nettled, Sinan snaps back that Süleyman is hardly the last word in literary innovation and casually reveals that he hasn't read all of his books, as he doesn't need to keep too close an eye on the competition. Having put up with Sinan's boastful bluster and damningly faint praise for a while, Süleyman makes his excuses to leave. But Sinan accuses him of running away and accompanies him to a bridge over the river, while they ruminate on a letter that an absentee writer had sent to the seminar that not only outlined his reasons for staying away, but which also poured scorn on those seeking to be praised in public. Süleyman dismisses the missive as hypocritical and sentimental and warns Sinan that he will never make it as a writer if he insists on remaining an incurable romantic. 

Losing his temper, he complains about an oncoming migraine and stalks away. Unconvinced by his protestation that he would reject a Nobel Prize, Sinan intercepts Süleyman on the other side of the bridge and asks if he will read his manuscript. Once again trying to be civil, the author says he would never get any work done if he agreed to help every wannabe who pestered him. But, when Sinan jokingly questions whether that would be a bad thing, Süleyman struts off and Sinan attracts the attention of a fisherman by pushing a broken piece of statuary into the river. 

Beating a retreat along the towpath, Sinan realises he is being pursued and ducks into an estate of crudely painted houses. He takes refuge inside a statue of the Trojan Horse and quakes with fear when somebody tries to force the locked trapdoor. However, he has dreamt the incident after dozing off on the bus home and he steps down into the street to be browbeaten by a bypasser complaining that a teacher like Idris should set a better example than lounging around in the betting shop.

Venturing inside, Sinan asks his father why he hangs around with deadbeats. But Idris insists he is merely reading his paper before heading home. Despairing of him, Sinan returns to the apartment and starts searching for a lost notebook. Asuman sits with him and thumbs through an old photograph album. He lets slip that he saw Idris at the bookie's, but Asuman defends her husband by reminding Sinan how hard he worked to put him through school and how he never once raised a hand to him. 

A neighbour asks to borrow a rope to haul a sofa upstairs and Idris and Sinan offer to help. As she is trying to do her homework and doesn't like being leered at, Yasemin closes the kitchen door. But, when Sinan returns and checks his coat pocket, he is appalled to discover that 400 lira of the money he has been saving to publish his book has gone missing. He demands to know who has stolen from him, but resists openly accusing his father. However, Yasemin suggests that the neighbour might have taken the cash when he was left alone in the hallway and storms off to watch telly when Sinan continue to rage. 

Following the mayor's tip, Sinan pays a call on Ilhami and is encouraged when he says he likes what he sees. Pointing to a few books on his office shelf, he claims to be a voracious reader, although he hasn't had much time lately, as his mother has been ill. He has also been considering plans to expand his office and asks Sinan if he has a camera to take some pictures. However, he changes his tack when Sinan mentions that the book doesn't pay lip service to the region's past and Ilhami accuses him of disrespecting his heritage. When Sinan tries to defend his vision and explain that he is entitled to his opinion, Ilhami calls his secretary to bring in some papers he needs to read and their meeting ends with Sinan no closer to securing his funding. 

He drops into the café where his pals hang out and asks Ekrem (Çaglar Çan to stop leading Idris astray. Baffled why someone their age would want to hang out with his father, Sinan tells Ekrem to get a life. But he curtly informs him that he will do whatever he wants and walks out. Looking up, Sinan sees a TV news item about the majority of newly qualified teachers being sent to the East. 

When the weekend comes, Sinan takes Idris to the village to work on Recep's property. While Idris fixes an outhouse door, Sinan searches his grandfather's sparsely furnished house before paying a call on Hayriye and Ramazan. She is upset because Imam Veysel (Akin Aksu) has asked him to sing the call to prayer at the mosque and she think her husband is too old and will embarrass everyone by making mistakes. 

Wandering through the fields, Sinan spots Idris under a wild pear tree with a rope dangling from one of the branches. Fearing that his father has tried to hang himself, Sinan sneaks away. But his conscience gets the better of him and he creeps back to discover that Idris has ants crawling over his hands. He is relieved when Idris opens an eye and insists that he has merely dozed off and that the sun has moved and cost him the shade. Feeling awkward, Sinan announces that he is heading back to Çan if Idris wants a lift, However, he decides to finish his chores and asks Sinan if he's solved the crime of the missing cash yet. When he shrugs, Idris mockingly dubs him `Columbo' (after the 1970s TV detective played by Peter Falk) and demands to know if he is really so dumb that he can't work out who took the money.

Returning to the car, Sinan spots Iman Veysel up a tree scrumping apples, while Imam Nazmi (Öner Erkan) keeps watch. Amused at catching supposedly holy men pinching fruit, Sinan hurls two clods of earth into the branches and tuts loudly when he makes his presence known. He asks Veysel why he keeps asking the retired Ramazan to stand in for him when he's away, as he is 80 and doesn't need the stress. However, Veysel insists that he has a duty to attend weddings and funerals and resents Sinan's implication that he only goes to these functions because he is paid in gold by the grateful families. 

When Veysel tries to justify himself, Nazmi asks why he always quotes from the best-known passages of the Koran and the sayings of Mohammed's followers. He suggests that it would make a nice change to reference some minor figures to get a fresh perspective. But, feeling slighted at having his knowledge of the scriptures questions, Veysel protests that his flock prefer him to stick to the basics and the pair begin disputing the extent to which the Koran can be interpreted to back any line of argument. 

While walking into the village, Sinan warms to this theme and is busy questioning whether believe is a blessing or a curse when they stop for tea. Idris drives past in a neighbour's car and waves at them. Veysel declares Idris to be a good man, who works hard at the school and is good to his father and in-laws at weekends. However, Sinan inquires whether a man who fritters away his wages is a paragon of virtue and, when Veysel tries to defend him, Sinan sarcastically notes that clerics must have mixed emotions about gambling because their wages are probably paid out of dodgily accrued funds. When he asks whether human take the credit for things that go right and blame fate when they go wrong, Nazmi tries to interject with a theological point. But Veysel avers that they are straying into dangerous territory and should leave things where they are. 

Returning to Recep's to collect the car, Sinan spots his father's hunting dog in the yard. Aware that he is valuable, he sells him to one of the villagers and tries to avoid the animal's mournful eyes, as he drives away in a vehicle with a notice advertising `teacher's car for sale' obscuring the rear window. The next day, he walks into Idris's classroom to give him the first copy of his The Wild Pear Tree. However, Asuman had also asked him to collect his father's pay cheque, as the electricity has been cut off and she's at home in the dark. So, when he sees Idris trying to hide betting slips under his sleeve, he decides not to give him the book and has to rein himself in from insulting him in front of a class of curious children.

Getting home, Sinan tells Asuman that Idris hadn't been paid yet. However, he mentions the betting slips and wonders why she married such a deadbeat. As she sits on his bed wondering how they are going to cope, Sinan tosses her a copy of his book, which he has inscribed with the words `all thanks to you and you alone'. Asuman is deeply touched and so proud that her son has realised his ambition. She asks where he got the money from and he fibs about borrowing it from a friend. When he jokes that he is no better off than `Mr Loser', Asuman ticks him off for being disrespectful. She admits that she might have been better off marrying the first man who proposed to her, but she thought Idris was dashing and handsome and she has had no cause to regret her decision, regardless of the ups and downs. 

Sinan sneers at her romanticism, but she reminds him that he's not exactly got the girls forming an orderly queue. Moreover, she reminds him that people thought that he was a peculiar little boy and that she was forever having to defend him for doing things his own way. He resents the recollection and the smirk is wiped off his face, as he realises that, in essence, he is no better than the man he despises. When Idris gets home, therefore, and Asuman accuses him of spending his pay, Sinan remains in his room. But Idris feels betrayed by his snitching and shows him the wanted poster for his missing dog that he had been drawing when he waltzed into his classroom. When Asuman asks what Idris's excuse was, Sinan proclaims he was lying and laughs it off when his mother reveals that she had found her husband sobbing in the night over the loss of the only creature who didn't judge him. 

As it starts to snow beyond the window, the action flashes forward several months to show Sinan doing his military service in the frozen countryside. By the time he returns. Idris has retired and moved into the storeroom on Recep's plot. Asuman has used his bonus payment to buy a new fridge and a laptop for Yasemin. They jokingly refer to Idris as `the shepherd' and neither seems to be particularly missing him. However, they also have to confess to having left the piles of Sinan's book beside a leaky window, with the result that they got horribly damp.

Blue mould seems to be growing out of the brown paper packaging, but Sinan shrugs off the revelation and takes a trip to Çanakkale to see how the book has been selling. The bookseller needs reminding of the title and admits that he hasn't shifted a single copy. By contrast, Süleyman's latest volume is doing very nicely. Following a dispiriting walk by the choppy sea, Sinan catches a bus to the fogbound village. There's no sign of Idris in his spartan quarters and Sinan has to fight back a tear when he finds a cutting of a review of his book tucked into his father's empty wallet. He dozes off on the bed and dreams that a cradle is hanging from the rope in the wild pear tree and that ants are crawling over the sleeping baby's face.

Heading to the field, Sinan takes a step back when the sheepdog barks at him with a ferocity that brings Idris out of his hut to see what the commotion is. He is pleased to see his son and glad he has made it through national service in one piece. Sinan offers to help collect some hay bales for the sheep and they borrow a neighbour's truck to drive to the stores. Having unloaded in the snow, the pair sit outside Recep's house and Idris jokes that his father has told the locals that he will sling him out on his ear if he causes any trouble. 

Sinan asks if Idris has any luck with the well and he concedes that he should have listened to the locals when they said he would never find water. He smiles, as he talks about a tactical retreat and tells Sinan that he enjoyed his book. Naturally, he recognised the unflattering references to himself, but he was impressed by what he read and Sinan is ashamed that the only person to take his work seriously is the one he had written off. Idris inquires about Sinan's future plans and suggests that there are worse ways to start life than by teaching in a school in the middle of the Eastern nowhere. 

As the snow starts to fall, the exhausted Idris drops off to sleep. It's morning when he wakes after dreaming that Sinan had hanged himself in the well. He feeds the sheep and looks round for his son. To his surprise, he hears the sound of digging and he peers into the depths of the well to see Sinan wielding a pickaxe in his determination to prove the naysayers wrong and the man who had always believed in him right. 

It comes as something of a relief when Sinan shows a flicker of decency in this final scene, as he has been almost entirely unsympathetic to this point. Every writer needs faith in his ability, but the grotesquely self-absorbed Sinan has a conviction in his own rectitude that borders on the delusional. Ceylan wisely avoids disclosing the content and quality of his tome, but it's safe to suggest, on the basis of his character and conversation, that his stories and essays would be sanctimonious and querulous. Moreover, given how little he knows about the world, the past and himself, they would also be blinkered and naive. 

The same cannot be said of Aydin Dogu Demirkol's performance, however, which is perfectly judged and contains enough vulnerability to persuade the audience to stick with his rite of passage in the hope that he will eventually have an epiphany that will knock the chip of his shoulder and jolt him into facing reality. Murat Cemcir is equally effective as the shifty Idris, who has become a fringe player in his own existence, as he labours under the burden of both his addiction and the knowledge that his wife and children despise him almost as much as his loathes himself. The irony, of course, is that Sinan is just as much of a gambler as his father, as he withholds money the family needs to fund the publication of a book that stands little chance of recouping its costs, let alone turning a profit. Moreover, by selling his beloved dog, he proves even more underhand than Idris, who is never actually shown gambling at any point in the film.

There's no question that he keeps Asuman in the dark (literally, so at times), but the spark in their relationship has long since been extinguished and Bennu Yildirimlar plays her as a woman who has been battling the odds for so long that she no longer has time for affection. Ceylan contrasts her resignation with that of Hatice and it would be fascinating to know whether Idris and Asuman were matchmade or married for love. Although she's only on screen for one sequence, Hazar Ergüçlü makes a deep impression, as does Serkan Keskin, as the writer who endures a tirade of snarky questions and accusations during the brilliant bookshop scene. The exchange with Akin Aksu's complacent imam is equally compelling and confirms the acuteness of the script produced by Aksu in conjunction with Ceylan and his wife, Ebru.

Once again owing debts to such Russian writers as Anton Chekhov and Fedor Dostoevsky, Ceylan continues to explore such perennial themes as the chasm between European and Asian Turkey and the unbreachable differences between the secular and the spiritual and the urban and the rural. However, this is also an intense treatise on family living, personal responsibility, finding a niche and accepting one's limitations. It's also a cautionary tale about the need for honesty in a country where it's sometimes easier to accept convenient untruths. 

Shooting with a digital camera, Gökhan Tiryaki's photography is often stunning, with the images of the warm sunlight blinking through the rippling autumnal leaves feeling like a distant memory against the bleached out chill produced by the blanketing fog and snow. Meral Aktan's production design is also superb, with the meagre furnishings of the grandparental dwellings in the country village contrasting starkly with the cosy clutter of the family flat in Çan. Moreover, special mention should be made of the use of Leopold Stokowski's string arrangement of Johann Sebastian Bach's Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, which reinforces the melancholic mood, while also serving as a link between the lived and the dreamed and reminding us of the beauty and truth that exists amidst the mundanity and mendacity of our daily lives.

Grown-ups seeking a small-screen treat for their younger viewers could do a lot worse than check out The Incredible Story of the Giant Pear, an animated adaptation of a bestselling book by Danish author Jakob Martin Strid that has been directed with a lively sense of fun and a keen eye for the fantastical by Philip Einstein Lipski, Jørgen Lerdam and Amalie Næsby Fick. Seeking to teach audiences of all ages to base their decisions on facts rather than propaganda and rumour, this is an engaging fable for our fake news times.

Sebastian the elephant lives with Mithco the cat in a house he inherited from his great-grandfather in Sunnytown. Everyone is happy because the mayor, JB, is such a decent man. But, when he mysteriously disappears and deputy Twig takes over after an extensive search, things start to go down hill because Twig builds a skyscraping town hall that blots out the sun. 

One day, while fishing in the bay, Mithco catches a bottle that contains a message from JB revealing that he has washed up on Mysterious Island after adventures in the Pitch Black Sea with some pirates and a sea dragon. He encloses a seed that he urges the finder to plant. Rushing back to the house, Mithco buries the seed in the garden, while Sebastian realises that JB has landed on the same island that his great-grandfather was seeking when he went missing. 

During the night, the seed turns into a giant pear that is so big it almost knocks the house over. Sebastian calls Professor Glucose from the Atomic Institute and he transforms the fruit into a new home using the gadgets in his van. However, Twig objects to the large green edifice and, when it starts to roll down the hill, he charges after it with a fire engine, a tank, a police car and a man in a bathtub in his wake. But nothing can stop the pear from landing with a splash and floating out to sea. 

Twig is furious and tells army commander Colonel Rekyl that everything will change on Saturday when he becomes mayor. But Sebastian and Mithco have no intention of letting him assume power and set out for Mysterious Island using a sheet as a sail. However, Professor Glucose needs some batteries for his special compass and they are about to despair when they run into the Pernicious Pirates. Their tiny captain tries to capture Sebastian and Glucose , but Mithco bombards them with melons and he likes the taste so much that he starts singing a song and doesn't notice that his prisoners have slipped away with the batteries from the back of his ghettoblaster. 

While Glucose fires up the compass, a storm blows up and a large red sea dragon emerges from the swell and looms over the pear before swallowing it whole. Instead of finding themselves in the belly of a monster, however, the friends realise they are inside a mechanical marvel and they are invited to tea by its bushy bearded creator, Ulysses Karlsen. He is something of an eccentric with a passion for cooking and he promises to make them his famous curry dip after he shows them the stone from Mysterious Island that Glucose needs to power the compass. Karlsen reveals that he was given the stone by Sebastian's great-grandfather, who chose to leave the dragon by rowing boat rather than stay and become Karlsen's friend. But his hopes that his new guests will remain are quickly dashed and they manage to engineer an escape after causing a power failure. 

Naturally, the trip proves not to be plain sailing, as they drift into the Pitch Black Sea. Sebastian is scared when ghosts rise up from the sunken ships caught in the dense cloud. But he is relieved when one of the spirits turns out to be his great-grandfather, who takes the wheel. He shows Sebastian and Mitcho that sparkling lights and colours that exist within the morass and urges them to see things for themselves before reaching any conclusions. As he fades away, as the pear reaches open water again, he reminds Sebastian to always look for another way if he is confronted with a problem. 

Much to Sebastian's delight, he spies Mysterious Island through the binoculars. But the rocks guarding the entrance to the port are dangerous and the pear is wrecked. Wandering inland, they find a garden full of giant pears and are reunited with JB, who explains that he slipped and fell into a dinghy that was swallowed by a whale who deposited him on the island. He is concerned by the news of Twig's tyranny and suggests they head home right away. But Glucose can't repair the pear without his atomic van and Sebastian has a tantrum. As he stomps around, he falls down a hole and discovers a giant engine that can power the island back to Sunnytown. 

They pass through the Pitch Black Sea, with great-grandfather beaming with pride, and pick up Karlsen and the Pernicious Pirates. But, just as they are in sight of home, the engine conks out. Remembering the advice to find another way, Sebastian fires a message in a bottle, which Colonel Rekyl intercepts before Twig can destroy it. He refuses to fire the tank's gun to mark Twig's accession, but the ambitious deputy does it by himself and manages to destroy the Mysterious Island with the shell and knocks Sebastian and Mithco into the sea. 

Fortunately, the little cat who hates water swims down to save her friend and they float home on a pear. Meanwhile, Karlsen magics up the sea dragon and rescues everyone just as another giant pear hurtles through space and knocks a hole in the side of the town hall that lets the sun through once more. As the film ends, Glucose and JB celebrate in a new pear-shaped town hall, while Twig is allowed to keep his post on the proviso he behaves himself. Karlsen and the Pernicious Pirates settle into their new surroundings, while the sea dragon basks in the bay. And Mithco and Sebastian go fishing in the hope they can catch something that will spark a new adventure. 

Sadly, nobody has bothered to list the English-language voice cast anywhere, so their efforts will have to go unheralded. But the stars of the show are the directorial trio, who not only keep this far-fetched odyssey afloat, but also manage to do so without padding the action with the kind of wince-inducing ditties that detracted from David Stoten's Thomas & Friends Big World! Big Adventures! The Movie. They also make inspired use of cross-section shots that allow the audience to see the inner workings of the pear, the sea dragon and the Mysterious Island. 

It's hard to avoid the echoes from George Dunning's Yellow Submarine (1968), which has recently been restored to mark its 50th anniversary, and Henry Selick's animated version of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach (1996). Moreover, Glucose bears a marked resemblance to Professor Pat Pending from The Wacky Races, while the pirates prove as incompetent as those who periodically menace Asterix the Gaul. Nevertheless, this is never less than imaginative and amusing and few will not be pleased to see the timid Sebastian overcome his fears and respond positively to whatever fate has to throw at him.

Born in Bethlehem, raised in Saudi Arabia and educated in New York, Annemarie Jacir has emerged as a major talent in Palestinian cinema. Reuniting with Saleh Bakri for the third time after Salt of This Sea (2008) and When I Saw You (2012), she pairs him with his father, Mohammad, for Wajib, an urban road movie whose title translates as `duty' and which has much in common with Ismaël Ferroukhi's Le Grand Voyage (2004), in which another father and son aired their differences during a pilgrimage trip from Provence to Mecca. 

Having flown in from Rome for the wedding of his sister, Amal (Maria Zriek), topknotted, thirtysomething architect Shadi (Saleh Bakri) drives around Nazareth with his flat-capped father, Abu Shadi (Mohammad Bakri), to visit the family, friends and acquaintances whom tradition dictates should receive their invitations a fortnight ahead by hand. As the local radio station reveals, this is a mixed-faith town and a Christmas tree dominates the apartment of Abu Murad (Tarik Kopty), Um Murad (Monera Shehadeh) and their daughter, Maria (Lama Tatour), who serves them drinks. They inquire after Abu Shadi's health after his operation and his son reminds him that he is supposed to have given up smoking. 

But Abu Shadi gets his own back in the car by asking Shadi if he wouldn't prefer to make an honest woman of Maria rather than be shacked up in sin with Nada (whose father Abu Shadi resents because he was a globe-trotting member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation). However, Abu Shadi gets a reminder of how ill health can strike when delivering an invitation to a widow (Samia Shanan) whose husband had a heart attack at the top of the steps that have just left him out of breath. He tucks into some hummus with gusto, however, and tells Shadi not to stare at the Israeli settlers at the next table. 

They call in on Rami (Henry Andrawes) and his brood and discover Marwan (Falah Zoabi) on the sofa. As Abu Shadi hasn't included him, he sends Shadi to the car to fetch his invitation and is frustrated when he has to go downstairs to fill in a card because his son doesn't have the gumption to read between the lines. Rami asks Shadi about his medical studies and how soon he will be returning home and they are both confused when Abu Shadi returns and declares that Shadi is currently studying architecture and will return to medicine in due course. 

Having already been asked about how he likes America, Shadi is bemused by his father's insistence on retelling his life story to suit himself. But Abu Shadi shrugs that little white lies never hurt anybody and that it's always best to let people hear what they want to hear. His sensitivity does not extend to Rami's son, Salim (Sobhi Hosari), however, and Shadi tuts disapprovingly when Abu Shadi speculates about his sexuality. But the tables turn when Abu Shadi confirms that his ex-wife is coming to the wedding and asks how often Shadi speaks to his mother, who now lives in the United States. He insists he has a right to stay in touch, but Abu Shadi clearly still feels pained by the humiliation of her desertion and is glad to put Amal on speakerphone when she calls to ask how their errands are going. 

They call in on an aunt (Naheda Azzam Shorrosh) and uncle (Emil Rock) who are hoping to win the award for the best festive decorations for the third year running. Shadi is discomfited by the cage birds strutting across the back of the settee and everybody laughs when he gets pecked. However, his finger needs dressing and it juts out above the steering wheel as Abu Shadi plays a CD by wedding singer Fawzi Baloot. Shadi thinks it's awful and wishes they had hired someone else, even though this man has been performing at family functions for 40 years. He also complains about the amount of uncollected rubbish on the streets and the slowness of the traffic. But they are merely stuck behind a funeral procession and Abu Shadi is dismayed to learn from a mourner (Bahjat Odeh) that he is older than the deceased. 

This gives Shadi another opportunity to upbraid his father for his unhealthy habits. But Abu Shadi is unconcerned and orders whipped cream cappuccinos from Yousef (Ehab Bahous) and calls Amal to ask her cousin Fadya (Rana Alamuddin) to join them for lunch. However, Shadi has also been on the phone to Nada and confides that he has yet to break some bad news he will keep for the right moment. It certainly doesn't come as the Volvo enters a modern estate and Shadi is appalled to learn that his father wants to invite Ronnie Avi, the Israeli co-worker Shadi blames for his exile, as he launched an investigation into the cinema club he ran with his teenage friends. Aware that his friend holds the key to him being promoted to headmaster, Abu Shadi protests that he isn't a government spy and implies that Shadi's youthful politics were dangerously radical.

But, when Shadi gets out of the car and his father runs over a little dog in the road, he jumps back into the passenger seat and they speed away, as this isn't the neighbourhood for Palestinians to explain their way out of an accident. But they are faced with another dilemma when Salwa (Karma Zoubi) asks Shadi if he would take some of the speeding points accumulated by her slacker son, as he has no plans to return to the region after the wedding. He is even more compromised when old flame Noura (Rebecca Esmeralda Telhami) pounces on him when he knocks on her door alone while Abu Shadi has a crafty cigarette. On returning to the car, he responds to teasing about the mark on his lip by chiding his father for smoking. However, they are distracted by Fawzi Baloot calling to request an advance on his fee and Shadi sneers that a decent singer wouldn't be so strapped for cash.

Having struggled to park in a narrow street, they deliver a card to Johnny (Maneer Bakri), who lights up a cigarette before bounding to the window to argue with a neighbour who has thrown rubbish into his garden. Surprised by the vehemence of his complaint, the duo return to the Volvo to find that someone has slashed their tyres and they have to drop into the garage, where Abu Shadi gossips with owner Abu Firas (Rezik Bawardi). The older man stays in the car at the next port of call, where Shadi overhears hairdresser Um Issa (Huda Al Imam) informing her client that his mother had behaved like a lovesick girl in abandoning her family to follow her lover to America. 

Shadi has been irked by how many buildings around Nazareth have been covered in tarpaulins and despairs when his father makes him pull in at a store to buy a green sheet that he insists Amal has requested. They lunch with Asad (George Khleifi) and his lawyer daughter Fadya, who sings a traditional bridal song when Amal joins them for Asad's signature fish dish. Fadya wishes she could visit Rome, but she has moved home to care for her ageing parents and persuades Shadi to sample some red wine that friends had produced on a vineyard that had been left dormant since 1948. Taking his sister aside, Shadi asks Amal if she really wants someone as awful as Fawzi Baloot singing at her wedding, but she shrugs because it's as much their father's day as her own. 

Over lunch, they realise that the printer has put the wrong day on the invitations and, when he refuses to make good the error for free, the family sit round the table and change the wording by hand on the undelivered cards. Amal is cool about the problem, but Shadi sees it as another example of how his hometown has drifted into complacent compliance. Driving on, they get stuck in a queue at the garage, where Abu Shadi claims to be looking forward to seeing his ex-wife again because he feels ready to forgive her. Unable to conceal the truth any longer, Shadi reveals that her new husband is dying and that she will only make a decision on travelling when she gets the result of his latest scan. The news leaks out during Amal's dress fitting and she accuses her mother of being a selfish coward. But Shadi explains that she is facing widowhood and wouldn't hurt her child on purpose. 

Abu Shadi saves the situation by helping Amal decide which dress she prefers and they hug warmly. However, he refuses to see his former mother-in-law (Violette Khoury) and goes to make other deliveries while Shadi helps her with her post. She wants an engineer to fix her Internet connection, but says nothing about family matters before her grandson leaves. At the next house, neighbour Georgette (Zuhaira Sabbagh) accuses Shadi of being a Daesh terrorist and it's only while he's repairing her kitchen tap that she realises he's Abu Shadi's son. As they were classmates, she insists on giving him a tray of sweets and urges him not to be a stranger. But Abu Shadi is clearly not that pleased to see her. 

As they drive on, they get into an argument with a trader selling Christmas tat (Ahmad Bayatra) about parking outside his shop. Shadi then gets cross when his father spins a yarn about how well he is doing abroad to an old man (Elias Nicola) reading his invitation aloud. They cheer up while listening to Procul Harum's `A Whiter Shade of Pale' and reminisce about the past. Shadi tries to persuade his father that his mother hadn't planned on letting Amal down and reminds him that it took courage for her to break out of a life that was suffocating her. 

But they fall out again when Abu Shadi asks if they can finish up for the day by delivering Ronnie's invitation and they engage in a slanging match on the side of the road, as Abu Shadi accuses his son of having lost contact with his roots in thinking that ideals and conviction count for more in Palestinians getting by in Israel than courtesy and pragmatism. While Abu Shadi drives off alone, Shadi stops for a beer with old pal Norbert (Ehab Salami), who tells him how often his father boasts of his achievements. He shuffles home as dusk falls and starts making coffee in the kitchen of Abu Shadi's modest home. When his father comes home, he sits beside Shadi on the balcony and offers him a cigarette. As they light up, Shadi reveals that his stepfather has died and that his mother will probably be able to make the wedding. Relieved he'll be spared another public humiliation, Abu Shadi leans back in his chair and agrees that the balcony will look better without the tarp. 

Despite the number of high-profile acting dynasties in screen history, few fathers and sons have teamed as effectively as Mohammad and Saleh Bakri in this nuanced insight into the realities of daily life in the Palestinian enclave. Although the eavesdropped snippets of radio news sketch in some background information, Jacir deftly uses the conversations between Abu Shadi and Shadi and the incidents that occur on the road to limn the chasm between the prodigal's image of what his homeland should be like and the indweller's appreciation of how to navigate the nitty-gritties of the daily routine. 

Yet, while the primary focus falls on the father and son, this is also an astute analysis of the status of women within the Palestinian community. The unseen wife/mother is clearly a pariah for having walked out on her children. But, with the notable exception of his daddy's girl daughter, it's disappointing to see an educated man like Abu Shadi taking such a dim view of the majority of the women he meets on his travels. He attempts to interest Shadi in both Maria (whom he claims is his favourite pupil) and Fadya and bemoans the fact that cousins no longer marry, even though she has supposedly ruined her reputation by living with a man who eventually jilted her. Despite never having met Shadi's girlfriend, he dismisses her for shacking up with him and turns his nose up at Georgette's flirting because he clearly doesn't approve of women making the first move. 

As much of the action is filmed inside the Volvo or the homes of the invitees, cinematographer Antoine Héberlé is given limited opportunity to capture the landmarks of Nazareth or impart any visual intricacy. But production designer Nael Kanj works wonders with religious iconography and Christmas decorations and costumier Hamada Atallah draws a shrewd contrast between the drab colours worn by Abu Shadi and the florid mauve shirt and red trousers sported by his Europeanised son. However, Jacir takes the plaudits for her thoughtful script and understated direction and for bringing to wider attention the everyday travails of Palestinian outside the Occupied Territories.