Uzak (2002)

[Capo]

Uzak
Distant
Nuri Bilge Ceylan 2002 Turkey

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An unemployed villageman arrives in Istanbul in search of work.

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A quiet, methodic exploration of social alienation and miscommunication between people living together. It's an incredibly personal work: not only was it shot in Ceylan's own apartment, but revisits his own earlier career, showing a photographer living in Istanbul who stays up late at night flicking between Tarkovsky's Stalker and pornography videos. It unfolds in a consistent, patient and unique manner; characters don't talk very often, and the sounds are of distant traffic and unseen wood pigeons in varied surroundings. The visual style is intriguing, too: the camera shows an empty landscape or cityscape from mid- to long-shot, with actors entering the frame slowly, walking directly towards camera, looking beyond it in close-up, leaving the frame, and then, like a delayed reaction to catch up with events, the camera pans to follow the actor to wherever he goes. Ceylan is one to watch.

[Capo]

[Capo]

Those first two shots are the same take, by the way. Very patient opening.

[Capo]

Thoughts on this, wetdog?

[RNL]

It's well-intentioned and sensitive, but I think it's noncommittal and ultimately ineffectual as a result.

I wonder what Ceylan is getting at. In the interview on the DVD he talks about his technique more than anything else. He seems to indicate that both Mahmut and Yusuf are based on him; the role of Yusuf was intended for a younger actor, so possibly is modelled on Ceylan's younger self. (His behaviour mightn't be as creepy if the actor were younger.) He claims that he's interested in his characters' "inner lives". But is he really? Does that find its way into the film? Mahmut and Yusuf are lonely and alienated, they're distant. But is that all there is to say? Is Ceylan saying, "This was me. I was lonely and alienated"? Just because something is autobiographical doesn't mean it's entitled to be nothing but self expression. I mean, take Yusuf; did Ceylan have trouble interacting with women when he was a young man? Is that what he's expressing through this character? I hardly see how it can be much more meaningful than that. Was Yusuf inclined to stalk women in his rural hometown? Or did the behaviour develop (implausibly apruptly) when he moved to the city? What is the meaning of the character at all? He needs to be extensively developed or chucked entirely to make room for Mahmut's story. The film by far hits its most interesting notes when Mahmut goes on his photography tour and meets with his ex-wife. The potential there is tremendous and frustratingly untapped. It's just too amorphous to be incisive.

[Capo]

And the, um, positives? ;D

[svsg]

I loved it. I could somewhat relate to Mehmut (though I understand he is not a fictional character). Yusuf, in spite of his lack of sophistication, comes across as an honest and simple person. On the other hand, Mehmut is somewhat embarrassed with himself, in spite of achieving more than Yusuf. Also liked Tarkovsky references, to the extent that the music from Zerkalo continues in the next scene