Just One of Those Days (Where Hemme Dies)

     I saw One of Those Days When Hemme Dies almost exactly a year ago. I knew nothing about it going in, except for the fact that it has an absolutely baller poster. This is how I decide what films to see sometimes.

    I have a lot of thoughts about the film. It's a very non-standard film, it does not follow a conventional story structure. There is a lot about it that holds symbolic meaning, that I had my interpretations on while watching. It's a film that lets moments breathe a lot, making it very atmospheric. It's also visually stunning. I liked it a lot, it was one of the best films I saw in 2025.

    So, the protagonist is a man named Eyüp. Eyüp as a given name is the Islamic counterpart to Job in the Bible. As a religious figure, Job is a man known for his patience through hardships and having to endure a lot. This is fitting, because Eyüp's patience is tested a LOT in this film. All of the difficulties in his life are revealed slowly and one by one in the film, so that each piece of the puzzle falls very neatly into place and you see the full picture of Eyüp's life.

The premise is that Eyüp works in a tomato sun-drying field under an abusive boss, Hemme, who refuses to pay him. They get into a physical fight, and Eyüp decides that he wants to murder Hemme.

    In his few and brief appearances, Hemme wears a shirt with black, red and white stripes, reminiscent of the tomato field itself. Several shots in the film contrast red objects against white, harkening back to it. In the opening scene, a series of shots is shown, beginning with Hemme just sorta squatting down, not doing much of anything. This is contrasted with Eyüp who is shown hard at work, moving the tomatoes at the back of the truck.

    Eyüp has a high sense of pride and will absolutely not accept charity, he barely accepts gestures of kindness. I believe the sun and the shade have symbolic significance. Perhaps the latter represents charity. Eyüp usually prefers to stay under the sun. The first exchange he has in the film has another character remark on his sunburns. He is occasionally told by other characters to get under the shade, and he doesn’t really comply. The most obvious example of this symbolism is when he stands beside a lone tree in an otherwise barren area, and does not ever step foot in its shade.

    In another scene, he is stopped by a man having lunch while he walks with his broken motorbike. The man tells him to bring the motor into the shade and come sit with them, have a rest. He suggests the bike might be acting up due to the heat. Eyüp initially declines, saying it's late and he needs to go. He agrees after the man keeps insisting. He brings the bike nearer to the shade, but does not actually place it under it. The man offers him some of his food but Eyüp will not take it. The man offers him tea and goes indoors to bring some to him, but Eyüp leaves with his bike before he comes back.

    In another scene, Eyüp is stopped by a friend of his brother’s. Again, Eyüp tries to evade him, but gives in to his insistence. The man tells him he had just bought some grapes due to a dream he had the previous night regarding a late friend. He offers Eyüp some grapes, but Eyüp takes none, and leaves without notice, similarly to before. The man had complained about the late friend’s family mishandling his vineyard. Later on in the film, Eyüp is scolded by an acquaintance for mishandling the vineyard that he presumably inherited from his father. So, it is as if the man was unknowingly confronting Eyüp about one of his failures.

    There's one scene where Eyüp walks into a corner store, and sees that the clerk has fallen asleep while watching TV. The programme on the TV is the 1974 Heidi anime. Maybe the programme is here to represent this idealized, romanticized idea of pastoral life that is presented to the masses, in contrast with the harsh reality of Eyüp's own life in the countryside.

    There is one scene where Eyüp is helping an old man with his grocery (literally a single melon). After they walk for a while, the old man asks Eyüp, "Do you know of Peter Khan?" and Eyüp corrects him, "That's Peter Pan." To be honest it has been some time since I have seen or read anything Peter Pan. I'm sure the story is thematically relevant in some way, I just don't know how. It has to be because it is so random, the man asks this completely unprompted.

    It's a very contemplative film and I liked it a lot. There are just so many little moments and so many memorable things about it. I have only written about the ones that have especially stuck out to me. I recommend it, though I don't think there is currently any way to watch it, unfortunately.