Last Call for Istanbul (Istanbul Için Son Çagri) is a Turkish Romantic drama film released on Netflix on November 24, 2023. It is directed by Gonenc Uyanik and the screenplay is written by Nuran Evren Sit. The film has a runtime of about 1 hour and 31 minutes.
The cast of the film includes Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ as Mehmet, Beren Saat as Serin, Annie McCain Engman as June, Joy Donze as Sophia, Zihan Zhao as Fenhua, Michael Loayza as Davi, Angela Chew as Jia and Ty Fisher.
The story follows Serin and Mehmet, who coincidentally meet at the airport on their way from Istanbul to New York, and find themselves caught up in an unforgettable night of excitement, desire, and temptation in the city. As they spend the best moments of their lives together, they face a dilemma: both of them are married.
Last Call for Istanbul Review
Airport crushes are an integral part of travelling, fantasizing about someone we saw for some brief minutes and creating elaborate scenarios about falling in love. That’s what happens to Mehmet when he sees Serin while waiting for his luggage. As always that brief encounter came to an end when he picked up his bag and had to be on his way. Yet he finds a chance to have a conversation with her when Serin realises that her suitcase was swapped by someone else.
With no phone or wallet at hand, Serin had no choice but to take Mehmet’s help in getting her luggage back. Tracking down the passenger who took her bag, takes both of them on a ride through the nooks and corners of New York. From Chinatown to the hotel where celebrities once lived, the two strangers find themselves tagging along everywhere and even having a pretty good time. Their chemistry is palpable but it’s not a typical love story since both of them are married.
Serin often raises her concern if Mehmet is cheating on his wife by trying to spend time with her. While he ensures that he is perfectly happy in his life and hasn’t ever cheated on his life. On the other hand, Serin shares how she isn’t sure if there’s love left in her marriage, or has just become a habit. Now if you are thinking that these two people will probably cheat on their significant other, then this film’s first half has definitely got you.
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At this particular point, I was done with the film. It seemed like another cheesy romantic story where the lead’s wrong actions would be justified by – love at first sight. Also, there are so many things that don’t make sense. Like the number on the swapped suitcase belonged to some man, who ran a gift shop.
But when they reach there, his wife tells them that he will meet them at a hotel (?). If he lives in New York, then why would he be at the hotel? Keeping that aside, he was nowhere to be found at the hotel and told the receptionist that he would come tomorrow. I mean, I am all for cheesy romance but make it make sense.
With numerous questions bubbling in my mind and not approving of the lead’s increasing closeness, I kept my patience to see how it ended. The twist in the story changed everything and everything fit into place, except the swapped suitcase man’s story. In an instant, the perspective of Mehmet and Serin’s affair in New York takes a happy turn. And just for this, I would have forgotten every loophole in the story. But the ending ruins it all again.
The narrative that love prevails over everything, from personal morals to career ambitions, should become a tale of the past. Hypothetically speaking (without spoiling the whole plot), if a marriage is in shambles because one of the partners doesn’t support their spouse’s career aspirations. Then the ending shouldn’t be that the spouse leaves everything and says that – love is everything they need & kicks away a million-dollar opportunity.
They need to find the middle ground, if not it’s better to be on their separate ways. Unfortunately, the ending here suggests that everyone sacrifices something in a marriage, so throw away whatever your partner doesn’t like and always choose your marriage, even if it makes you miserable. If the ending wasn’t something similar, the film would have been almost perfect. A unique way of storytelling that surprises you but it turned out to be a letdown.
Another thing that I really liked was how the transitions were used to move to another scene, making it look quite seamless. Some noticeable ones could be seen when the opening credits end and the animations almost merge with a real-life scene, and when Mehmet & Serin explore their hotel rooms. The scene moves to and fro by finding similar frames to transition from one another. Other than that the story was like a curve, feels a bit nonsensical at first then it takes a high leap and you feel – oh it’s actually interesting but then it jumps underground again.
Rating: 2.5/5
Last Call for Istanbul is available for streaming on Netflix.
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