By ELVIS MITCHELL
“Distant” was shown as part of last year’s New York Film Festival. Following are excerpts from Elvis Mitchell’s review, which appeared in The New York Times on Oct. 15; the full text is available below. The film opens today at the Cinema Village, 22 East 12th Street, Greenwich Village.
I have to admit that “Distant,” the director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s wry, modest meditation on pettiness, didn’t initially grab my attention. It was on a second viewing that the minimalist scale of this Turkish comedy-melodrama, which received the grand jury prize at 2002’s Cannes International Film Festival (admittedly, not always an indicator of worthiness), began to work its spell on me.
This film, set in Istanbul, is a study in which not much happens. Mahmut (Muzaffer Ozdemir), a photographer, allows his cousin Yusuf (Mehmet Emin Toprak) to move into his tiny apartment with him. Yusuf, a reminder of the life Mahmut has left behind in their village, has plans to find a job on a ship, something that never quite happens.
“Distant” (“Uzak”) is almost like a droll take on “The Odd Couple”: can two men live together without driving each other crazy, especially in an apartment that’s gray and oppressive even by Manhattan standards? The take-and-take — rather than give-and-take — of their existence seems to be set on the head of a pin, since “Distant” is so minutely observed. There are a few chuckles initially, especially watching Mahmut’s awful, crass attempts to pick up women, and his obsession with pornographic movies. It’s soon revealed that domestic events have led to his flight into crassness, and his loss will deepen over the span of “Distant.”
As crude and selfish as Mahmut is, Yusuf still finds a way to cramp his cousin’s style. Mahmut obviously wants Yusuf out but can’t dislodge his relative, who has become like a particularly slovenly barnacle on his soul. Mahmut is hindered by an emotional condition, having raised passive-aggressive behavior to new heights. Worse, his cousin is a reminder that his options have disappeared, both professionally (Mahmut now takes jobs just to make a living) and personally. (He can no longer even do what he wants at home because of his new roommate.)
Maybe the director makes a none-too-subtle point about the evaporation of opportunity in Turkey, but the performances jointly won its two stars the best actor award at Cannes. The caginess of the performers and the personality added by the evocative cinematography both go a long way in adding weight to “Distant.”
But the self-imposed dreariness prevails: eventually, the problem is the material itself. Such an accurate depiction of cramped spirits, small-mindedness and men unable to make changes in their lives takes its toll. “Distant” feels as if it’s going nowhere in no particular hurry, and finally leaves us distant from its characters.
Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan
In Turkish with English subtitles
Not rated, 110 minutes
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