08-20-2009, 11:33 PM
Distant directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Turkish -- 2002)
A good friend recommended this movie.
Was she playing a practical joke on me?
If only my cassette player hadn't broken. I sure could have used a laugh track.
Mahmut is a jaded photographer living by himself; he's divorced, and it's easy to see why, because he's a complete zero. Yusuf is his naïve cousin, freshly unemployed, who comes to stay with him while looking for work. It's an awkward arrangement, because they are not close and have nothing in common. Both are shown to be inept in their dealings with women. In their one outing together, Mahmut sees an idyllic farm that awakens his old passion for photography. But when his cousin Yusuf says, "You want me to get the equipment out?" the spell is broken, and Mahmut says no, and they drive onward. He's been photographing floor tiles for a living for the past 20 years, by the way -- for advertising brochures for a tile company.
Most of the movie is composed of Mahmut staring off into the distance, or Yusuf staring off into the distance. That's because they're distant. Distant from each other, distant from all other human beings, distant from life itself. The director does an excellent job of making this point absolutely clear.
This movie is best watched from a distance of about a million miles.
And yes, this was the most depressing movie I've ever seen.
A good friend recommended this movie.
Was she playing a practical joke on me?
If only my cassette player hadn't broken. I sure could have used a laugh track.
Mahmut is a jaded photographer living by himself; he's divorced, and it's easy to see why, because he's a complete zero. Yusuf is his naïve cousin, freshly unemployed, who comes to stay with him while looking for work. It's an awkward arrangement, because they are not close and have nothing in common. Both are shown to be inept in their dealings with women. In their one outing together, Mahmut sees an idyllic farm that awakens his old passion for photography. But when his cousin Yusuf says, "You want me to get the equipment out?" the spell is broken, and Mahmut says no, and they drive onward. He's been photographing floor tiles for a living for the past 20 years, by the way -- for advertising brochures for a tile company.
Most of the movie is composed of Mahmut staring off into the distance, or Yusuf staring off into the distance. That's because they're distant. Distant from each other, distant from all other human beings, distant from life itself. The director does an excellent job of making this point absolutely clear.
This movie is best watched from a distance of about a million miles.
And yes, this was the most depressing movie I've ever seen.