Distant ( Uzak ) ( Distante )

Distant (DVD) (*)

$49.99

Original Title: Uzak
Alternate Title: Distante
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
European Film Awards
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Turkish ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
105 min

Aspect Ratio:
Widescreen

Special Features:
Behind the scenes
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Filmographies
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Short Film
Trailer(s)

Movie filmed in 2002 and produced in:
Turkey ( Africa, Middle East )

Directed By:
Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Written By:
Nuri Bilge Ceylan

Actors:
Muzaffer Özdemir ..... Mahmut
Emin Toprak ..... Yusuf
Zuhal Gencer ..... Nazan (as Zuhal Gencer Erkaya)
Nazan Kirilmis ..... Lover
Feridun Koc ..... Janitor
Fatma Ceylan ..... Mother
Arif Asçi
Nazli Aydin
Ahmet Bugay
Ebru Ceylan
Ayhan Ergürsel
Erhan Ersoy
Cemal Gülas
Engin Hepsev
Ercan Kesal
Hakan Kuldan
Asli Orhun
Ahmet Özyurt
Bahaltin Surler

Synopsis:

Yusef (Mehmet Emin Toprak) leaves his small town and travels across barren snowy lands and roads to the port city of Istanbul to seek employment and stay with his cousin Mahmut (Muzaffer Ozdemir). Yusef spends many snowy days seeking work on a shipping line to discover that a hiring freeze is activated, but is bolstered by a sense of hope in the city which is a contrast to what he has known. Mahmut is a successful commercial photographer and his ordered life is disrupted by the presence of his cousin and this exacerbates his concern with his ex-wife Nazan (Zuhal Gencer Erkaya) who has remarried and is leaving to live in Canada with her new husband. When Mahmut leaves town on a photo shoot he hires Yusef to accompany him as an assistant which puts some money into Yusefs hands. Mahmut receives word that his mother is sick and he leaves again to tend to her leaving Yusef alone in the house, and returns to find that his cousin has not kept the house clean and neat which cause the two to argue. Yusef walks the streets sometimes following an attractive girl (Ebru Ceylan) he has seen but cannot find the opportunity to speak with her. Mahmut follows his ex-wife, Nazan, to the airport and watches as she and her new husband leave the country. Yusef and Mahmut each live in isolated world and makes decisions that bring about the subtlest of changes in their lives, changes that have great consequences.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan's DISTANT chronicles the numbing loneliness, longing, and isolation in the lives of two men who are consumed by their own problems. Istanbul photographer Mahmut (Muzaffer Ozdemir) reluctantly receives his relative Yusuf (Mehmet Emin Toprak), but the mingling of their lives does little to alleviate their detachment. Mahmut's ex-wife is moving and Mahmut cannot deal with the residue of his feelings for her, and later, he must care for his ill mother. Yusuf unsuccessfully looks for work on a ship in hopes of seeing the world and having money left over for his family, but ends up wandering the city, failing to find the connection and inclusion he seems to desire. Despite a superficial effort by Mahmut to help by offering Yusuf a job on a photo shoot, their already distant relationship devolves into little more than sharing the same space, as neither can find a way to communicate at a deeper level.Ceylan uses his significant cinematic talents to great effect with long, meditative shots that emphasize a mood of alienation and stagnancy. Wintry Istanbul becomes its own character, as its foreboding weather and stark industrial areas create a physical distance among the characters. Imbued with pathos, this film provides a complex character study that speaks to the need for human connection. Ceylan's cast is comprised of his relatives and friends, all nonprofessional actors, who turn in refined performances. DISTANT won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival in 2003.

Mahmut, a 40 year old independent photographer, is a 'village boy made good' at least professionally in the big city - Istanbul in this case. After his wife leaves him, he falls into an existential crisis. Then comes his cousin Yusuf, who left his native village after a local factory closed down, effectively unemploying over half the local men. He looks to Istanbul for salvation: a job on board a ship sailing abroad, at once exciting and crucial to supporting his family in the desperately poor village. The distance between the two men is apparent at once, and becomes increasingly pronounced. Whereas Mahmut is adusted to big city life and suffers from many of its neuroses, Yusuf is a lonely, excentric country worker with annoying nervous and hygienic habits, and a sick mother back home he must somehow support. This intimate drama was filmed in the director's apartment in Istanbul, using all his furniture, appliances, rooms, car and so on as the film's props. The actor playing Yusuf is actually the director's real-life cousin, and the actor playing Mahmut is an actual friend, a non-professional actor.

This product was added to our catalog on Wednesday 14 April, 2010.

Customers who bought this product also purchased

Men on the Bridge (DVD)