Film Forum

Turkey, 2002
Directed by Nuri Bilge Çeylan
Starring Mehmet Emin Toprak, Muzaffer Özdemir, Zuhal Gencer
DCP. Approx. 110 min.

A divorced photographer’s life of solitary routine is interrupted when a distant cousin from his remote village comes to stay in his tiny Istanbul apartment, quickly outstaying his welcome. Winner of the Grand Jury prize at Cannes, along with joint Best Actor awards for the two leads. “With its laconic, faintly elliptical narrative style, its subtle, striking compositions, and its superb performances, the film has much to say both about masculinity and about modern life in the Western(ized) world... A droll wit ensures that its none too rosy take on friendship and fulfilment never feels forced or oppressive. Indeed, a delicious sight gag involving Tarkovsky's STALKER typifies the film's distinguishing blend of warm affection and wry skepticism.” ⁠— Time Out. "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?” ⁠— Elvis Mitchell, The New York Times.

A BIG WORLD PICTURES RELEASE

Reviews

“A movie of quiet revelations…thoughtfully orchestrated and filled with visual wit. Working in the tradition of Michelangelo Antonioni’s early-‘60s (and Abbas Kiarostami’s early-‘90s) modernism, Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan should secure his reputation here…”
— J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

“A beautifully made, unapologetically artistic piece of work. Ceylan has an exact sense of what he wants to do and how he wants to do it… Every shot in DISTANT reveals the filmmaker’s impeccable eye for framing and composition. He is a formal director who almost never cuts within a scene, but each image is such a thing of beauty that we are constantly grateful for his taste and discretion.”
— Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

“Remarkable! Genuinely beautiful and haunting.”
— Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

“Has strange adhesive powers. As startling as anything Tarkovsky devised…”
— Anthony Lane, The New Yorker