Beautifully photographed in locations burdened with inclement weather, the award-winning Turkish film Distant is a deeply compassionate and frequently amusing study of quiet desperation, prompting many critics to favorably compare writer-director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's subtly hypnotic drama to the films of Yasujiro Ozu and Andrei Tarkovsky. Muzaffer Özdemir and Mehmet Emin Toprak shared Best Actor honors at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival for their perfectly nuanced performances as (respectively) divorced, fortysomething photographer Mahmut, and his distant relative Yusef, who arrives in Istanbul looking for work, and quickly wears out his welcome. Tensions mount, revealing that solitude is the natural (if not preferred) state of these lonely, melancholy men (tragically, Toprak was killed in an auto accident, at age 28, six months before Cannes). With understated humor, Ceylan observes Mahmut and Yusef's chronic isolation, but he never passes judgment, and viewers who tune into Distant's visually seductive study of detachment are likely to find it unforgettable. Recommended. [Note: DVD extras include director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's 17-minute short “Koza (Cocoon),” 42 minutes of subtitled behind-the-scenes footage, a 31-minute interview with Ceylan, a photo gallery, and trailers. Bottom line: a small but solid extras package for a fine foreign film.] (J. Shannon)
Distant
New Yorker, 105 min., in Turkish w/English subtitles, not rated, VHS: $24.95, DVD: $29.95, Mar. 22 Volume 20, Issue 2
Distant
Star Ratings
As of March 2022, Video Librarian has changed from a four-star rating system to a five-star one. This change allows our reviewers to have a wider range of critical viewpoints, as well as to synchronize with Google’s rating structure. This change affects all reviews from March 2022 onwards. All reviews from before this period will still retain their original rating. Future film submissions will be considered our new 1-5 star criteria.
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