Uzak (Distant)
Dir: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2004
*****
Nuri Bilge Ceylan's films are generally melancholic and dreamlike, the stories are not always to everyone's tastes and they can never be described as exciting in the classical sense. It certainly can feel like absolutely nothing is happening, much of the time nothing is, but it is the rich visuals and the art of nothing that really invoke the viewer. Silence is sometimes deafening and it is also often Golden, you can be right next to someone and be miles apart from them, Uzak explores this in the most humble of ways. Uzak is a visual treat, it is one of the most beautifully shot film I have ever seen. There is a scene whereby Mahmut, our leading man, watches a ferry turn around next to a bridge in the snow and it is one of the greatest visual scenes ever in the history of cinema (in my most humble of opinions). Nuri Bilge Ceylan is one of the greatest directors of all time, he turns miserable into a thing of wonder.