A lot has been said about this film; that it is an imitation of foreign art films, that it is boring and emotionless. However, it was simply a beautiful suprise for me. After seeing this, I thought this is way too far than being an imitation. It tells a unique story, that is constructed over real emotions, that are both turkish and universal. Uzak is a wonderfully captured portrait of a coldness, distance, melancholy. Yusuf, the pure, kind hearted, unemployed village boy comes to İstanbul to work at ships. He will stay for a while with his cousin Mehmet, who has come to İstanbul “without any money, even for an hotel” and who in time, became a photographer and made money. Mehmet is always far from people around him: Yusuf, his friends, his ex-wife, his lover that he treats like a whore. Even though he is from the same village with Yusuf, he pretends to be an İstanbulian artist. He regards Yusuf as inferior, declining his roots and past.
Cinematographically, the film was beautiful. Most of the shots were like photographs, of course as N.B.Ceylan comes from photography. About scenes, most of them expressed the emotion intensely. Here are some that I particularly found brilliant:
Ship: Early in the film we see Yusuf passing in front of a ship that capsized on a snowy day. Apart from being dreamlike and surreal, that scene illustrated the fear of Yusuf very esthetically. It is also a sign about the direction of the story: everything will be as strange, meaningless, scary, sad as this ship in the end of the film.
Girl with the vacuum cleaner: Inability to communicate. The cleaner’s pieces never come together, like Yusuf and the girl. And Yusuf, that came from the village, feels like an outsider in this city and with its people. How could we became so far from eachother, inable to say at least a word?
Porn after tarkovski: This is such a true portrait of so-called artists. Talks about how esthetique and sublime Tarkovski is (as he is the latest fashion, even though he does not really understand), then prefers porn to his movie. When Yusuf comes back, he changes the channel and opens an old Turkish movie, and action movie. Then we see Yusuf standing behind him, silently laughing, with the hope of finding something in common. But then Mehmet rudely closes the TV. It is almost visible to see how the bridge he is trying to build breaks down. How Mehmet ignores his feelings.
Toy soldier: It was the climax of the film, in my opinion. How we suddenly see this strange creature on the floor (a moving toy soldier), hear the fake gun sounds, and the loud laughter of Yusuf coming afterwards. First, it’s an attempt to get the attention of Mehmet. Then, Mehmet asks indirectly how long he will stay. After the heartbreaking fight(about how Mehmet started from zero and that Yusuf didn’t plan anything) between them starts, Yusuf shoots with the toy again to the air (to the unknown future, to solutionless problems) then when Mehmet shouts, the gun turns towards him. It’s a rebellion, an attack towards the walls of Mehmet. Attack towards this indifference, this desperation. Then for the last time, in the end of the fight(after Mehmet clearly shows he does not want Yusuf), Yusuf shoots towards nothing. Because nothing is left behind. Again, Mehmet calls Yusuf down like a child, and it’s over. Such a heart-breaking face Yusuf has. For Mehmet, it’s only an annoying toy. Maybe Yusuf is not aware what he’s doing with the toy too. All happens like a psychoanalytic expression.
Mouse trap: So emotional. Yusuf’s kind heart didn’t let him leave the mouse to be eaten alive by cats. But the only choice is to kill. Desperation, parallel to the lives of Yusuf and Mehmet. Stuck on an emotion, on a problem. Eating alive the distance is.
Final scene: Mehmet had a heart, after all. It was just that he couldn’t break the walls around himself, he just couldn’t. I deeply felt his regret and sadness after both his ex and Yusuf had gone, forever.