A group of men search all night for a body.

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Deep in the Turkish countryside, a police detective, a prosecutor, a doctor, a murderer and a suspect search all night for the place where the killer has buried the body. With everyone stumbling around in the darkness generally fatigued, the main characters philosophize on life during the few bits dialog that pepper a movie made up mainly of images. Highlighting the slow passage of time, this approach also reveals the characters’ weaknesses. When morning comes, each one returns to their role and it is up to the audience to make their own conclusions from the autopsy of the body found.

As a thoughtful thriller, Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's film defies genre. There are few or no emotions to experience during the 2 hours and 40 minutes of the film, which plunges into a kind of meditation where the characters' motives hold their importance through to the end. While the director's literary ambition is obvious, the result remains somewhat nebulous.