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Ranking All Of Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Movies

“What are Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Best Movies?” We looked at all of Ceylan’s directed filmography and ranked them against one another to answer that very question!

We took all of the movies directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan and looked at their Rotten Tomato Critic, Rotten Tomato User, Metacritic, Metacritic User, IMDB, and Letterboxd scores, ranking them against one another to see which movies came out on top. The movies are ranked in our list below based on which movies have the highest overall score between all 6 review sites in comparison with all of the other movies by the same director. The process is all very scientific with no flaws at all.

The full ranking chart is also included below the countdown on the bottom of the page.

Happy Viewing!



The Top Film’s Of Nuri Bilge Ceylan



8 ) Three Monkeys (2008)

Three Monkeys (2008)

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 5
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 8
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 7
  • Metacritic User Score: 6
  • IMDB User Review Score: 6
  • Letterboxd User Score: 6

A family battles against the odds to stay together when small lies grow into an extravagant cover-up. In order to avoid hardship and responsibilities that would otherwise be impossible to endure, the family chooses to ignore the truth, not to see, hear or talk about it. But does playing “Three Monkeys” invalidate the truth of its existence?



7 ) The Town (1997)

The Town (1997)

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 7
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 7
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 1
  • Metacritic User Score: 6
  • IMDB User Review Score: 8
  • Letterboxd User Score: 8

The story of a family living in a small godforsaken town in Turkey seen through the eyes of children and dealing with the growing complexity when one becomes an adult.



6 ) Climates (2006)

Climates (2006)

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 6
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 5
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 8
  • Metacritic User Score: 3
  • IMDB User Review Score: 7
  • Letterboxd User Score: 6

Man was made to be happy for simple reasons and unhappy for even simpler ones – just as he is born for simple reasons and dies for even simpler ones… Isa and Bahar are two lonely figures dragged through the ever-changing climate of their inner selves in pursuit of a happiness that no longer belongs to them.



5 ) Clouds of May (1999)

Clouds of May (1999)

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 7
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 1
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 6
  • Metacritic User Score: 6
  • IMDB User Review Score: 5
  • Letterboxd User Score: 5

This is a movie within a movie, about a director, Muzaffer, who goes back to his hometown to make a film using a cast of local people (based on the director Ceylan’s first feature, Kasaba). While Muzaffer is around, his mother complains about simple health problems, his father is in a legal fight against the government for his land, his cousin leaves his job to help Muzaffer who promises to find him work in Istanbul, and his little cousin Ali tries to carry an egg in his pocket for forty days so that he’ll get the watch of his dreams. In the meantime, they form the cast for Muzaffer’s movie as well.



4 ) Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011)

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 2
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 5
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 5
  • Metacritic User Score: 4
  • IMDB User Review Score: 3
  • Letterboxd User Score: 1

In the rural area around the Anatolian town of Keskin, the local prosecutor, police commissar, and doctor lead a search for a victim of a murder to whom a suspect named Kenan and his mentally challenged brother confessed. However, the search is proving more difficult than expected as Kenan is fuzzy as to the body’s exact location. As the group continues looking, its members can’t help but chat among themselves about both trivia and their deepest concerns in an investigation that is proving more trying than any of them expected.



3 ) Distant (2002)

Distant (2002)

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 3
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 3
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 4
  • Metacritic User Score: 1
  • IMDB User Review Score: 4
  • Letterboxd User Score: 3

Uzak/Distant chronicles the numbing loneliness, longing, and isolation in the lives of two men who are consumed by their own problems. Istanbul photographer Mahmut reluctantly receives his relative Yusuf, but the mingling of their lives does little to alleviate their detachment.



2 ) The Wild Pear Tree (2018)

The Wild Pear Tree (2018)

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 1
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 4
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 3
  • Metacritic User Score: 5
  • IMDB User Review Score: 1
  • Letterboxd User Score: 3

An aspiring writer returns to his native village in rural Turkey, where he becomes overwhelmed by his father’s debts.



1 ) Winter Sleep (2014)

Winter Sleep (2014)

Review Website Ranks:

  • Rotten Tomatoes Critic: 4
  • Rotten Tomatoes Users: 1
  • Metacritc Critic Score: 2
  • Metacritic User Score: 2
  • IMDB User Review Score: 2
  • Letterboxd User Score: 1

Aydin, a retired actor, owns a small hotel in central Anatolia with his young wife Nihal and his sister Necla, who is coping with her recent divorce. During the winter, snow covers the ground and boredom brings the return of old memories, pushing Aydin to flee…



Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Best Movies



Nuri Bilge Ceylan Review Website Filmography Rankings

FilmRT CriticRT UserMC CriticMC UserIMDBLetterboxdOveral Rank
Winter Sleep (2014) 4 1 2 2 2 1 1
The Wild Pear Tree (2018) 1 4 3 5 1 3 2
Distant (2002) 3 3 4 1 4 3 3
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia (2011) 2 5 5 4 3 1 4
Clouds of May (1999) 7 1 6 6 5 5 5
Climates (2006) 6 5 8 3 7 6 6
The Town (1997) 7 7 1 6 8 8 7
Three Monkeys (2008) 5 8 7 6 6 6 8