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One-Way to Tomorrow
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Strangers meet cute on a train; language and sex.
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One-Way to Tomorrow
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What's the Story?
In ONE-WAY TO TOMORROW, Ali (Metin Akduler) finds Leyla (Dilan Cicek Deniz) in his train seat. They're both embarking from Ankara for a 14-hour ride to weddings. She's lost her bag and is irritable, uninterested in his harmless banter. But over the hours, through long talky scenes, it comes as no surprise that they share a close connection. They're bound for the same wedding, she the aggrieved ex of the two-timing groom and he the heartbroken ex of the treacherous bride. Both reveal even more treacheries to the other until, hours into the train ride, they both recognize the folly of appearing at the wedding for either revenge or last-minute appeals. This is reportedly an adaptation of a 2014 Swedish film, How to Stop a Wedding, but it also resembles other meet-cute-traveling movies like Before Sunrise and Forces of Nature.
Is It Any Good?
Despite its predictability, this is an engaging romance with two big assets, its lead actors, Metin Akduler and Dilan Cicek Deniz. Both manage to convey their respective characters' demons and weaknesses at the same time they showcase attractive vulnerabilities that make us root for them. There can be no doubt that, locked in a train compartment for 14 hours together, these two wounded romantics will find each other attractive, so their final get-together comes as no surprise.
What the filmmakers of One-Way to Tomorrow do so well is draw us in and keep us interested through long talky monologues and dialogues. While an arbitrary series of supertitles announce "Part One," "Part Two," etc., between those long bouts of dialogue there's an exceptional array of Turkish and other international pop songs that supply a haunting score.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the pain of learning someone has betrayed you. Do you think it feels better to know how badly someone you love has behaved toward you, or is it better not to know? Why?
Did anything surprising happen in One-Way to Tomorrow? Do you think the surprise factor mattered with respect to the movie's quality? Why or why not?
Two seemingly bad yet long-term relationships are described here. What are some reasons you think people stay in unhealthy relationships?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: June 19, 2020
- Cast: Metin Akduler , Dilan Cicek Deniz
- Director: Ozan Aciktan
- Inclusion Information: Middle Eastern/North African actors
- Studio: Netflix
- Genre: Romance
- Run time: 90 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: February 18, 2023
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