Uzak review

Why you can trust 12DOVE Our experts review games, movies and tech over countless hours, so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about our reviews policy.

Written, photographed and directed by Turkey's Nuri Bilge Ceylan, this assured, contemplative arthouse drama is filled with a palpable sense of loss and yearning. Its slender storyline concerns Yusuf (Emin Toprak), an unemployed young man from the countryside who comes to a wintry Istanbul in search of work. He stays in the apartment of his divorced cousin Mahmut (Muzaffer Ozdemir), a successful-yet-cynical photographer who's soon irritated at having his solitary routine disrupted by Yusuf's presence.

With calm detachment, Ceylan's camera observes these two men as they struggle to cope with the loneliness of modern urban existence. There's no music on the soundtrack and the dialogue is minimal. Yet there's a vein of wry humour in Ceylan's depiction of an awkward domestic cohabitation, and our knowledge that Emin Toprak died in a car crash after filming was completed deepens the melancholic mood.

The Total Film team are made up of the finest minds in all of film journalism. They are: Editor Jane Crowther, Deputy Editor Matt Maytum, Reviews Ed Matthew Leyland, News Editor Jordan Farley, and Online Editor Emily Murray. Expect exclusive news, reviews, features, and more from the team behind the smarter movie magazine.