Original, surreal and absurd Turkish comedy series deserves big hand
Netflix is occasionally accused of prioritising quantity over quality. While hundreds of millions regularly watch its original output, many instantly forget the films, too.
However, for better or worse, its latest release A Round of Applause will probably stay buried in minds long after viewing.
The Turkish comedy is so unconventional, it is brilliant. But it is not for those craving easy-watching 30-minute laughs. It is surreal comedy, but stick with it.
A Round of Applause revolves around married couple Mehmet (Fatih Artman) and Zeynep (Aslihan Gurbuz). The first episode begins with Zeynep telling Mehmet they are unprepared for the impending birth of their child. The pair rush out to buy all the necessary supplies, including a pram, crib and formula. However – and here is the bit that will probably put most off – they are not actually pregnant.
Instead, Zeynep says, without any hint of irony, they have forgotten to conceive the child.
Flash forward to a heavily pregnant Zeynep and A Round of Applause’s incredibly dry approach to its surreal material is what makes it so captivating; most of the time I am not sure whether to laugh or cry at what I am watching.
Either way, its writer and director Berkun Oya finds a moment of uncomfortable truth in their relationship, one those paying attention will find illuminating. After the absurdity of the opening scene, the now-pregnant Zeynep and Mehmet are visited by their spoilt friends Sevda and Burak.
The pair cannot help but see similarities between how they care for their visitors and how it will be when their child is finally born. Especially when during a thunderstorm, Sevda and Burak ask if they can sleep in their marital bed because they are scared.
Oya’s decision to end these scenes on Mehmet waking up might suggest that the show’s bizarre moments are merely dream sequences. However, viewers are soon taken back to the bizarre.
When Zeynep starts to have contractions, audiences eventually see their son Metin (Cihat Suvarioglu), although he is a middle-aged man with an umbilical cord attached to
his stomach. Metin sits next to a window, smoking and listening to another man insist he should already know what to do with his life, even though he has not been born yet.
Throughout its six episodes, which have a combined running time of two hours and 49 minutes, A Round of Applause follows Mehmet, Zeynep and Metin as they contend with
existential struggles about parenthood, marriage and figuring out what to do with life.
Some of the stories are surreal, such as Zeynep and Mehmet remaining unnervingly calm after losing Metin on the first night they bring him home, which includes a hilarious reveal about where he is hiding. But there are also relatable sequences, such as a teenage Metin having his heart broken for the first time and, as a middle-aged man, finally being honest with his parents.
Oya seemingly takes great joy in taking A Round of Applause in surprising directions and the director, who has also dabbled in feature films and theatre, plays with the form in an original and confrontational manner.
Not everything he tries pays off, and there are moments even the most open-minded of viewers will roll their eyes at.
But these slight failures only make its success all the more rewarding as it challenges viewers to keep up. Those who do will remember this show for a long time to come.