Uzak

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Uzak
Uzak DVD cover
Directed by	Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Produced by	Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Written by	Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Starring	Muzaffer Özdemir Mehmet Emin Toprak
Cinematography	Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Editing by	Ayhan Ergürsel Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Release date(s)	20 December 2002 (Turkey)
Running time	110 min.
Country	Turkey
Language	Turkish
IMDb profile

Uzak (Distant in English) is a 2002 Turkish film that chronicles a life that is the bane of modern living. People make a small domain for themselves (usually their homes) and they can't take any interference in their domain. The characters and situations bring out complex feelings of outrage, humor and pity all at the same time.

[edit] Awards

Uzak won 17 awards and 2 nominations, including the Grand Prix at Cannes film festival in 2003.

[edit] Director

The director of Uzak is Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Uzak is his third feature film.

[edit] Characters

Mahmut (Muzaffer Özdemir), the middle aged character is so emotionally bankrupt that he can barely express his residual emotions towards his ex-wife or the female he has sexual relationship with. Its not that he is happy with his current state of affairs but he is sort of comfortably numb in his own little world where everything is under his control. He works as a photographer for a tiles manufacturer, gets together with his friends from time to time and watches porn when he is bored of TV. But everything he does is ritualistic and he has nothing to look forward to in his life.

Yusuf (Mehmet Emin Toprak) on the other hand is young and warm person but with no sense of direction about his life. Unlike Mahmut he is illiterate, unskilled and with no money. He loses his village factory job due to economic recession and he comes to the city thinking that jobs will be lined up for him and he would just walk into one of the ports and find a job on a ship and travel to distant lands. Reviews on the film by major newspapers at rottentomatoes [1]