Distant Movie Review:


This double Cannes-winner is a lovely examination of human interaction that never goes quite where you think it will, mixing comedy and drama for a kind of bittersweet Turkish Odd Couple. Mahmut (Ozdemir) is an Istanbul photographer who is extremely set in his ways after his divorce from Nazan (Erkaya), who's just about to move to Canada with her new husband. He has his job down to a quiet routine that has just the right amount of space for a mistress (Kirilmis). Then life is disrupted by his childhood friend Yusuf (Toprak) arriving from their remote hometown to find work. Yusuf is idealistic and unrealistic, completely unprepared for the big city. And he's also not nearly tidy enough for the fastidious Mahmut, who we watch quietly bristling at each "insult". But Yusuf needs him, so what can he do about it?

The film is virtually wordless as we watch the characters dealing with each other, often spying or prowling through private things. There's a gentle but sharp humour at work here; their lifelong friendship only barely covers over a general mistrust. And the actors are brilliant at capturing this both individually and together (they shared the Best Actor award at Cannes; Toprak posthumously, as he was killed in a car crash just after the film's release). Meanwhile, director Ceylan catches a side of Turkey we rarely see on screen, namely the icy beauty of winter in Istanbul contrasted against the decaying empire. The film looks fantastic, and makes excellent use of settings both indoors and out to get into the minds of these increasingly internalised characters. It's fascinating to watch them strain against each other in the kindest ways possible, hiding their annoyance as well as personal obsessions that would give them common ground if they could only share them! The growing distance between them is the film's theme. And on a very bad day for Mahmut it finally boils over with surprising results. Simply beautiful filmmaking.

Rich Cline

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