Pages

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Films

Nuri Bilge Ceylan's Turkish snapshots

There is plenty of beauty to be found in both of Nuri Bilge Ceylan's features Climates and Distant. Even though there isn't much dialogue in both films, one hardly notices the lack of words because the camera is so well placed that we can perfectly understand what the characters are thinking and feeling.

A relationship on the ropes: Climates (2006)

A marriage is breaking apart.



We witness intimate moments between the couple. Very early on, we can tell something is not right between the two. In the following picture the wife, Bahar (Ebru Ceylan), wakes up from a dream she had on the beach. What did she dream about? That her husband (Isa played by Nuri himself) was throwing sand on her face and suffocating her. Hmmm..



The distance between the two is growing.



Just like in Distant, the male character still finds time to take beautiful pictures.



In a cafe thinking about his life and waiting to get Bahar back.



The snow falls tenderly around Bahar, not wanting to disturb her thoughts.


The intimate scenes between the couple and their solitary moments when the characters looked into the distant horizon reminded me of Antonioni's films (L' Avventura & L' Eclisse)




Loneliness and wanting space: Distant (2002)

Mahmut (Muzaffer Özdemir) likes his solitary lifestyle.



When his cousin Yusuf (Emin Toprak) arrives in town,

Mahmut is hospitable at first. But eventually he gets bothered because Yusuf's presence disturbs his day to day activities.

So Mahmut stays out of the house late, drifting across the beautiful city that is Istanbul.



Mahmut shares a lot with Isa from Climates. Both prefer to keep to themselves and both love to capture the simple beauty of Turkey via their camera. Maybe one day the two could meet in one of the countless cafes in Turkey and discuss their lives, or even chat a bit about the state of Turkish soccer.

Ratings out of 10
  • Distant (2002, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan): 9.5



  • Climates (2006, Turkey, Nuri Bilge Ceylan): 9


  • No comments: