10 Days of a Curious Man 2024 Movie Review
‘10 Days of a Curious Man’ (Original title: Merakli Adamin 10 Günü) is the latest and third part from director Uluç Bayraktar’s ’10 Days of…’ movie series starring Nejat Isler in the lead. Streaming on Netflix, these Turkish films revolve around Sadik, a lawyer-turned-private investigator in his fifties, getting invested in criminal cases for one or the reasons. He solves these crimes out of compulsion, passion or to seek inspiration for his writing. Underlying his detective narrative is a creepy romance arc that involves a saviour complex-ridden him and 20-something Hatice, almost his daughter’s age. If you can get past its blatantly obvious male-gazey tone, you may be intrigued by its twists and turns.
’10 Days of a Curious Man’ revolves around private detective Sadik, who investigates the case of the disappearance of a local famous blogger. His old friends and lovers help him find the truth behind it.
’10 Days of a Curious Man’ on Netflix follows lawyer-turned-private-detective Adil Sadik (Nejat İşler) from Eskişehir, who is now trying his hand at writing. He writes a novel but fails to get a publishing deal. So, while walking around the city thinking of what to do, he learns about a recent fire incident in the city that marks the third house burned in the city in the previous six months. A discussion with a nearby grocer leads him to an old lady called Şaziye. She tells him about Güzin/Mutena, a young woman that she believes has been killed. Sadik realises that Şaziye is merely speculating. Still, his curious mind leads him to look for Mutena.
Sadik walks inside Mutena’s house to find Saziye’s grandson, Ahmet, infected by either flu or COVID-19. He claims that he is there to get hold of the house keys as Saziye requested. Still suspicious, Sadik calls Pınar (Ilayda Akdogan), a 20-something woman insatiably in love with him for unknown reasons. He realises that Pinar now has a high-salaried, exciting job and isn’t going to return home. As he contemplates Mutena’s case, his Meral (Senay Gürler) knocks on his door and decides to stay with him at his house despite his strong protest. She plans to help him unravel a possible murder mystery case involving Mutena.
The day after Meral’s arrival, Sadik follows Ahmet to reach a clinic. He learns that Mutena previously worked there but hasn’t shown up for work in two weeks or so. It leads him to meet Metelik, who sells water bottles at the traffic lights nearby. Upon meeting Metelik, Sadik learns about Mutena’s social media with ‘Burn This World’ as her stage name and her big plans for her future. He goes to meet Mr Sinasi to check if Mutena auditioned for his organisation. Mr Sinasi hides from Sadik instead of revealing his prior connection to Mutena. That night, a few men suddenly show up at Sadik’s house to beat him.
At the last moment, Pinar shows up at Sadik’s house and saves him. His old friends, Hüso & Zeynel come to meet him at the hospital. After getting discharged, he meets Gülhan at her luxurious office to learn about some issues in her life. Later on, Pinar helps him get in touch with Sinasi to ask about Mutena. In the past, she presumably received ten grand from Sinasi and disappeared shortly after. So, Sadik suspects Sinasi is responsible for her disappearance and death. Sinasi denies paying her but leads Sadik to a client named Kutsi Atak, which he introduced her to. Pinar tricks Kutsi into meeting her.
Sadik, Hüso, and Zeynel interrogate Kutsi for his connection with Mutena. Kutsi leads them to Öner, a local zoning manager sent by Kutsi’s company’s CEO, Yüksel Zinchirli. The next day, they learn that Sitski, the realtor they were simultaneously looking for, has been murdered and so is his wife. The cops consider Sadik the primary suspect since photos of Sermin in his house were discovered by the cops. Sadik knows that he has not let Sermin in his house. So, he suspects that, earlier, someone tricked Meral to let themselves inside to trap him under these charges.
While sorting out these issues, Sadik meets Öner again. Öner claims that Mutena blackmailed him to receive over a hundred grand. Soon, Öner’s bodyguard comes to save him. Sadik shoots the bodyguard to death and kidnaps Öner. Öner leads him to the location of the part of his money. While discovering that, Sadik finds a video of Öner raping Mutena. So, Sadik shoots him dead. Then, he meets Metelik, who shares additional information about the money. He also reveals how protective he has been of Mutena since they were kids. It led to an unfortunate accident that crippled him.
Sadik, Hüso, and Zeynel find Nedim and investigate him in relation to Sitki’s death. He admits that he and Sermin were in love with each other. However, he thinks Burak, the nephew murdered Sitki & Sermin. He also admits to showing up at Sadik’s house to take naked pictures of Sermin. According to him, Sitki discovered Sermin’s photos and confronted her. He shot Sermin and Sadik shot him. The next day, he, Hüso, and Zeynel kidnap Kordela to check her connection to aiding and abetting murder suspect Yuksel Zinchirli. She reveals that he is unarmed and alone.
Sadik breaks into Zinchirli’s lavish house and interrogates him. Even Zinchirli doesn’t know where Mutena is. After getting all they need from Zinchirli, Sadik shoots him dead. Sadik hands over the money stolen from Zinchirli’s place to Hüso and Zeynel. After a bit of thinking, Sadik believes Ahmet knows where Mutena is. Ahmet leads Sadik to an apartment to meet her. Instead, Sadik gets kidnapped by Ahmet and his boss, Sacit. Soon, Hüso and Zeynel show up there to save him. Moments later, they find Mutena’s dead body lying in the bathtub. Ahmet confesses to his connection to Mutena’s death. That’s how Sadik solves the mystery of Mutena’s disappearance.
On the other hand, Sadi meets Gülhen to discuss a personal matter. Since Gülhan’s close relative has just passed away, she wants to be able to take care of her child. Legally, that is complicated for her as a single woman. So, she asks Sadik to do her a favour. She wants him to marry her so she can adopt the kid. In exchange, she offers him money to own his current apartment and a few more perks. After she adopts the kid, they will get divorced. He contemplates that idea. After listening to Gülhan’s emotional story, Pinar convinces him to accept Gülhan’s offer.
