Matthew Lewis’s review published on Letterboxd:
Istanbul is described as the place where people go to disappear, and after watching this film I kinda see the appeal of that. It's loud, busy, crammed together and has its own dark corners, but the film presents Istanbul as being surprisingly welcoming to people of all walks of live. It's a multicultural place with a wide variety of communities and makeshift families. It's a city with millions of stories.
I think part of why I really liked this film is that film focuses on three of those stories - the woman looking for her niece, the boy looking for a purpose, the woman looking out for her community - but reminding us that they are but three stories in something far bigger than either of them.
I won't spoil the ending, but the way it ends is bittersweet at best but feels fitting and dare I say realistic. The true focus of the film though isn't the search for lost niece but the connections you make in place different but also familiar to what you know. It's a film that's surprisingly uplifting in some respects, despite how certain things conclude.
