GRADE: 9
After his wife leaves him, a photographer has an existential crisis and tries to cope with his cousin’s visit.
Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Country of Origin: Turkey
Thoughts:
Bleak tale of two very different Turkish men navigating their frustrations and loneliness in a recession. The men circumnavigate each other, both facing their own problems and inability to connect with people while hiding their insecurities from each other. It’s a dreary and desolate story, but Ceylan finds moments of humor in it, none better than when the sophisticated intellectual Mahmut switches off an incredibly long, dialog-free scene from Tarkovsky’s Stalker as soon as his cousin leaves the room in order to turn his attention to a porn video!