Journey on the Hour Hand is the story of a clock repairman on a strange journey to a distant village to repair a tower clock. Kavur retraces his steps to the abandoned Motherland Hotel with its demented porter and leans heavily on the Sufi mysticism of The Hidden Face with its accented colours and mirrors, simple objects and natural landscapes, faces and movements. He aims to reinforce the feeling of a timeless journey into the self on the part of the protagonist.
Sometimes referred to as the “Turkish Bergman”, Kavur this time explores the psychological thriller a la Clouzot and Hitchcock – and although the director is too original to steal from Vertigo, the parallels are visible nonetheless.
Indeed, suspense is built as the scope of the story broadens into a murder mystery that involves a tyrannical husband who loves to hunt and a group of blind singers who “sense” more than what most people “see”. If anyone is left in the dark throughout most of this zig-zag tale of forbidden passions, then it’s the introverted clock-repairman who falls in love with a mysterious woman who may or may not be a murderess. —Ron Holloway (Turkish Cinema Newsletter, May 2005)
Ömer Kavur (18 June 1944 – 12 May 2005) was a Turkish film director, producer and screenwriter. He directed 14 films between 1974 and 2003. His film Gece Yolculuğu was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. Nine years later, his film Akrebin Yolculuğu was screened in the same section at the 1997 Festival. In 2005, he died of lymphoma in his own house at Teşvikiye. —Wikipedia
