When love gets too comfortable, it dies of thirst. No scandal is needed for it to vanish — sometimes, all it takes is the daily silence, the absence of small gestures, the constant preference for the comfort of inertia. “Last Call for Istanbul”, directed by Gonenc Uyanik and written by Nuran Evren Sit, digs into this arid soil of uncultivated emotions. What begins as a casual flirtation unfolds into an emotional revelation, inviting the viewer to reflect on the kinds of love we let wither from lack of nourishment — not the nourishment of fantasy or thrill, but that of presence, sustained affection, and preserved individuality.
Within the hectic backdrop of JFK airport, two strangers, each worn out by routine, meet not by fate but by a mix-up of luggage. Serin, a jewelry designer on a work trip, finds herself without her suitcase. Mehmet, a musician in transit, steps in to help, turning a logistical mishap into an existential turning point. Sharing both their Istanbul roots and language, they head to a hotel where the man who took her suitcase is supposedly staying. There, they discover they’ll have to wait until the next day. And so, unplanned, they decide to stay.
Time between them isn’t measured in hours, but in intensity. The boutique hotel, adorned with celebrity portraits, becomes both a setting and a metaphor — a suspended space between before and after. At the piano bar, in New York’s electric night, they improvise a choreography of complicity. Between drinks and provocative games, they drift from levity to desire with the ease of those who find familiarity in each other’s absences. This isn’t about sudden infidelity, but rather the culmination of long-standing erosion — each glance betrays years of unspoken wants, neglected selves, and marriages slowly unraveling.
The night plays out as a lyrical pause between two lives. It carries humor, eroticism, even a playful mockery of marital farce through a fake orgasm contest. But it also brings risk, tension, and the bittersweet realization that their connection is more than impulse. And then, inevitably, they cross the line — not out of recklessness, but as a kind of quiet rebellion against relationships that became prisons.
Dawn brings back Serin’s suitcase — and with it, the weight of the world they came from. The farewell should be purely logistical, but the film pivots. It sheds the deceptive lightness of its opening and dives into deeper waters, revealing the invisible fractures that predated the betrayal. The adultery, we come to understand, was only the spark; the fuel had long been accumulating. Here, the film refrains from moral judgment. Instead, it offers an unflinching, honest look at how love disintegrates when individuals within a relationship abandon themselves.
Mehmet and Serin are neither heroes nor victims. They are people who stopped listening to their own desires and, in doing so, became strangers in their own homes. Infidelity, in this context, is more a symptom than a sin — it exposes what remains when commitment erodes connection to one’s inner truth. By laying bare this process, “Last Call for Istanbul” transcends the limits of romance or drama, becoming a disquieting mirror reflecting how emotional neglect is built — in overlooked details, in compromises that quietly pile up into frustration.
This isn’t about justifying broken trust. It’s about exposing that true love — the kind that stays alive — demands more than loyalty. It requires personal vitality. No one can love fully while silencing their own voice, while burying dreams to sustain a bond already hollowed out. The message is unmistakable: to love is also to resist the erosion of the self. It’s choosing, every day, not just the other, but your own happiness as the foundation of any real relationship.
That’s the film’s most subversive and revealing turn. It begins as a romantic comedy, flirts with farce, and ends in a raw emotional portrait of the responsibility we each hold in keeping the flame within ourselves burning — for only then can there be enough fire to warm someone else beside us.
Film: Last Call for Istanbul
Director: Gonenc Uyanik
Year: 2023
Genres: Comedy/Romance/Drama
Rating: 8/10