Rent Uzak (2002)

A study of nothing in particular - Uzak review by CP Customer

If you like minimalism, this is probabaly worth a watch, after all critics awarded it a clutch of awards at various film festivals.

I found it a tedious, rather dull insight into the lives of two turks shambling around a snowbound Istanbul. I could see where the awards came from as loneliness and boredom seeped from the screen. Taking the film as a study into the dreary minutiae of human existence, I think it hit the nail on the head.

Taking the film as a film i.e. thought provoking entertainment, it failed to entertain or provoke much thought, other than when it would end

Slow, subtle and very plain. - Uzak review by JD

Of the Turkish films I've seen the common link is long, unusual and interesting scenes with no camera movement, crisp lighting and a mid-distant figure walking or smoking. The plot is based on very plain characters doing very plain things in ordinary ways. The interest is in subtle interactions requiring incredible acting for which Toprak and Ozdemir were justly rewarded. The tragedy and sadness is all the more for the ordinariness. Having said that it is a bit too slow in parts but if you're feeling chilled it is worth a watch, there is even a bit a humour in bits (e.g.the host gets stuck on his own mouse trap spying on his guest).

Gloom with a view - Uzak review by CH

Much to admire in this gloomy and dark humoured film. The mounting irritations of relatives overstaying their welcome is a theme Ceylan explored in his film Winter Sleep and he does so here in Uzak…..the claustrophobia of a sudden and unwanted domestic intimacy, the petty disruptions of banal daily routines and constant mirror of encroaching loneliness and desperate, useless orbiting of the other.