About Dry Grasses follows the story of a teacher whose hopes of migrating to Istanbul come crashing down after he is accused of inappropriate contact with a student. The story here might seem like a tale of the repercussions for the teacher accused of misconduct but instead, it is complex, philosophical and layered in its storytelling. In fact, despite the hooks in the screenplay, this is a fascinating character study of a flawed individual who is a narcissist and egoistic while being completely stuck in life, and being uncertain of his future. The screenplsy standing at a whopping runtime of more than 3 hours is a slow burn, taking its time to build and build(and a little more) until it embraces you in a telling final act which is philosophical, poetic and quite the epitome of a ruminated drama. 

The drama opens with a figure braving his way through the snow and it is early on where the harsh landscape is tactfully introduced as a character. The beginning symbolises a tone of estrangement and loneliness associated with the drama featuring the protagonist who wishes to get transferred to Istanbul while serving his fourth term in a town named Anatolia. He is shown to be a kind teacher who is unlike the ones around him while he takes a liking towards one of his students with whom he shares a flirtatious banter every now and then with the occasional hand over her shoulder, mostly in jest. It is said that following the loss of his loved one, he hasn’t allowed anyone close to him but is often resorting to validation which for him comes in the form of his student. This is also to do with the fact that he is balding while wishing to massage his ego in front of his younger and more better looking flatmate in a underlying layer of one-upmanship. The twist in the tale occurs when both he and his roomate are accused of inappropriate behavior. 

There are so many layers to be discovered here – for instance, the protagonist almost being embarrased when a member of the staff discovers a love letter from the bag of his student while assuming that the letter was for him(in a scene you see his student talking with another boy that raises this doubt). On being asked by his student to return his letter, he conveniently lies that he has destroyed it to protect her vested interests, something that she clearly sees through him while turning the love for her into rage, thus prompting her to lay severe charges against him. Now, what could easily have been a psychological drama after this point, soon turns towards a different plot point, where a disturbed protagonist befriends a young teacher from a nearby school. He initially takes a disliking to her mainly because of her limp, while being eager to set things between her and his roomate, the entire incident of him being accused makes him turn towards her for validation. 

The proceedings are meditative and poetic while highlighting the fact that the protagonist is selfish and insecure in many ways wherein his this very trait is put to test when the young teacher forms a liking towards his better looking roommate. And thus, he decides to get closer to her in a terrific scene that begins with a discussion of varied school of thoughts regarding man and his existence while defining the concept of a hero. These discussions notwithstanding, the protagonist and the duo get intimate for the first time. But if I were to change the point of view here, the young teacher also had vested interests in wishing to explore her ‘power’ in the real world following the loss of her leg in a suicide bombing. Thus, both the young teacher and the student used the narcissistic trait of the protagonist to find a way around him, something that was oblivious to him. 

The final act though is terrific while completely changing the dynamics of the drama which is in sync with the changing season. In another brilliant scene, the protagonist is seen wandering while being poignant about two seasons of the town – winter and summer. And while winters were harsh with snow all around, summers too did not fruitful with the terrain being home to dry grasses, a montage for the title. This was a more philosophical take on the deserts being piled up within an individual with most things in life, even significant at the time amounting to nothing at the end. This was more of the mid-life crisis where the protagonist finds himself in, estranged and lonely in life while mildly being envious of his young student who has a whole life in front of her, and also coming to terms with the fact that the young teacher is fond of his roommate more than him. He is all set to be alone again with his virtue of seeking for validation dried out, much like the grass in summers. The screenplay is engrossing, unique and extremely philosophical in nature.