AV Poetry

On first viewing I was disappointed with the narrative concerns. Yet another account of a distant male unable to acknowledge the good things in his life. I had to admit that the honesty of the minimalist observation of the main characters struck many a personal truth, I have been something of both of these men in my time. But it was looking as if another sad male tale was going to dominate my viewing. This condition was alleviated by beautifully filmed scenes.

But what made me pay attention most of all was the film’s soundtrack. In addition to the incidentally sounds determined by the film’s narrative, some of which are exaggerated, you hear a minimalist mix of subtle sounds, a gentle audio poetics that has you wondering if you heard the sound or not. You want to rewind to find out. The DVD information attributes the sound to Ismail Karadas. Was he the sound recordist or the creator of the sound track? I don’t know, but it is the poetry of the audio visual that makes this film for me.

The extras on the DVD enhance understanding of Uzak, the interview with Ceylan and the short film, Koza, a montage of fleeting images reflecting on memory and time. The exaggerated sound of Koza as on the DVD results in an even more extraordinary soundtrack than Uzak. Intentional or not it works well.