Uzak Reviews

Superb, beautiful, moving

I don't usually criticise other reviews, but this time I have to say something. If the words 'boring' and 'nothing happens' are ones that you often use when describing films - stop watching arthouse movies.

Sure, the film is short on plot - but its slow pace is precisely what gives the characters and the situations so much depth and resonance. The film shows us many awkward and poignant moments that just don't make it into commercial films. Male relationships, the modern vs the traditional, class, love, lonliness, alienation, it's all there - and only with a long unhurried gaze can a film produce such moving results. Also, the photography is jaw-droppingly beautiful.

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.

Subversive silences

You know you're watching something fairly unusual when the central character is the film hasn't uttered a word in the first ten minutes. Uzak (Distant) is a film about Mahmut - a man who has travelled away from his roots in central Turkey to discover life in the capital, and a career of photography.

When his cousin comes to stay - Mahmut's insular and compulsively regimented existence is disturbed. His cousin is garrulous and intrusive and doesn't quite share Mahmut's ideas on personal space. As the film develops we start to appreciate just how much distance Mahmut has from everything in his life; from love, from friends, from his past, from his student ideals. He has the weightlessness of a man in freefall who has thoughtlessly acquired many of the habits of city life, without appearing to really appreciate them.

Ozdemir's performance is flawless and of great subtlety - particularly in the play of micro expressions that haunt Mahmut's face.

The great visual beauty of Turkey is shot to great effect - part of the homage to Tarkovsky - to whom several references are made.

Rather slow going for the first hour or so, the film gathers momentum and by the time it has finished you're left with a peculiarly haunted feeling.

WHAT? No explosions?

While Hollywood pumps out cookie-cutter action films and sentimental drek, featuring pumped up lads and lasses gurning into the soft focus lens for the great unwashed, too lazy to sit through anything except explosions, let alone read subtitles comes this beautifully crafted film made with a tiny budget with untrained actors in the Director?s flat. This film isn?t boring: it?s a quiet story of loneliness. Its also very funny: the scene with the porno tape is brilliant, the two actors making a great double act there?a kind of anti Morcambe and Wise. Excellent. I want to see more like this.

Far too many people are giving films low scores because they can?t keep up with the subtitles. For those who CAN read, I recommend ?Together? as a kind of pick-me-up after this film. Yeah ? it?s a foreign film.

Smooth, mellow, low tar cinema

A clever and sophistocated piece of film-making in which the 'action' unfolds visually during the protracted, awkward silences that embody the main characters' alienation from their environment and form each other.

I disagree with anyone who says that 'nothing happens' during this film. Although Mehmet's cousin appears to be a n unwelcome guest, he has a profound effect on Mehmet.

A Turkish friend I watched the film with was able to explain some of its nuances. The fact that cigarettes are an important signifier of social class, for example, lends an added poignancy to the closing scene.

Quite simply a masterpiece

This is a film where art, life and cinema collide, bridging culture and language. A stunner. If Hollywood is your thing, stay away. If you can cope with a film which relies on fabulous visual imagery and superb acting, rather than lots of words, to tell a story then you're in for a rare treat. And my Turkish mate tells me it's portrayl of life in his country is as authentic as it gets.

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[Highly rated reviewer]

Better than watching paint dry?

I found this film to be ponderous and extremely disappointing. In a nutshell, the plot is this; village man comes to stay with relative. They are quite different and don't get on. Neither is happy. Village man tries to find work, doesn't succeed and stares at women. Wealthier man's mum goes to hospital. Wealthier man takes village man out with him on a photography trip. They still don't get on. Village man leaves. Wealthier man is left alone.

Given the limited dialogue, it would seem they couldn't find money for a script. Staring moodily a lot may convey profundity to some, but I found it clichéd and empty. The only I enjoyed was the landscape; Istanbul with snow was very pretty.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Boring

Uzak in Turkish means 'distant'. But for the purposes of this film, it means 'boring'. Loads of scenes with no dialogue, which are just not sustainable, at least not in this film. We cannot engage with either of the main characters. This type of film can be done really well, but this one was just an irritant. I just cannot understand why it has received the glowing reviews that adorn the DVD jacket. One to miss.

Most boring film

Probably the most boring film I have ever seen.

Customer Review

"Uzak" (Distant) is a fascinating exploration of the character of a divorced, middle-aged Istanbul photographer, Mahmut, and his relationship with his unemployed cousin, Yusuf, who comes to stay with him in his apartment overlooking the Bosphorus. Both of the cousins are in their own way distant, or disconnected, from the rest of society, full of apprehension about the future and of regret about the past. "Uzak" is clearly influenced by the films of Andrei Tarkovsky; it is very slow paced and haunting with nearly every image beautifully constructed and every sound perfectly sculpted. Like Tarkovsky's films, "Uzak" will not be to everyone's taste and I suspect many people would find this film merely to be a slow-moving ,dull story about two unwanted bored men lazing around a flat feeling sorry for themselves. However I found it to be a visually sumptuous insight into the human condition and modern life, tackling personal issues like divorce, belonging and loneliness and social issues like urbanisation, globalisation and deindustrialisation with great subtletly and deftness of touch. "Uzak" is a memorable film ;an excellent contribution by Turkey to World Cinema.