RSVP

Original title: LCV (Lütfen Cevap Veriniz)
Genre: Drama / Comedy
Director: Kaan Arici, Ismet Kurtulus
Country: Turkey
Year of production: 2022
Czas: 70 min

Awards and nominations:
2022 Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival: Best Actor
 
Before this small theatrical film turns into “Carnage” in Turkish (you might as well lose the inverted commas), everything seems to be clear. Semih is about to marry beautiful Ceren and his best friend Mert pours him whisky for courage. Mert, however, would like to be something more than just a noble witness. He decides to turn into a devil from early Disney cartoons to test the honest intentions of the newlyweds. Every long-term couple knows that attempts to find secrets in a relationship can only end in disaster.
You couldn’t make a more minimalistic film. All it needs is three actors, a 70-minute run time, and one room which is probably the newlyweds’ hotel room. This means the strong points of the film have to be a precisely constructed screenplay, well written dialogues, and magnificent acting. All three requirements are met. Aristotle and David Mamet would be thrilled to see how twists appear in the right moments, dialogues resemble ping pong matches, and actors show their class by fulfilling a difficult task of conveying a full spectrum of emotions. Oscillating between drama and comedy, Arici and Kurtulus’s film explores very serious social topics. To avoid spoilers, one can only say that the topics are common to both Turkey and Poland and Polish viewers will find them valid. As is the film’s plot. After all, we’ve all been to a wedding bursting with secrets.
 
Author: Michał Zygmunt
 
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Kaan Arici and Ismet Kurtulus – Turkish producers, directors, and screenwriters. They made a
few short films together before debuting in 2022 with two feature comedy dramas “RSVP” and “Donadona”. Their short films won international festivals in Nantes, Ploesti, and Trieste.