THE MAN.

Nuri Bilge Ceylan (view his work here!)

Probably the one and only reason I picked up a camera. I mimicked his Turkish cinemascopes (cinemascope is the real term for the 2.66:1 aspect ratio used in film that is not practically obsolete) for quite a while in my early going. My autobiographical cinemascapes evolved from that. Eventually I found my own style in my unique use of color and lighting that differs from Nuri, as well as my narratives, but one can easily notice the similarities and heavy influence on my work.

The reason I thought of this now and nearly forgot about his work and it's early influence on mine is that my wife just signed us up for Netflix and I was trying to think of movies I've always wanted to see, but couldn't find in our little mom & pop video store in town. It finally dawned on me that I've never seen a Nuri Bilge Ceylan film. His photographs were simply a way of location scouting for him as a director. It turned into a fairly successful side career, but his real love is for films. I cannot wait to see this film! Below is a synopsis and a link to the netflix page to add to your queue! ENJOY, I know I will!


Distant (2002)

Mahmut (Muzzafer Özdemir), a divorced, hermit-like photographer, lets his dopey cousin Yusuf (Mehmet Emin Toprak) live with him for a while in Istanbul while Yusuf looks for a job so he can support his family in their native Turkish village. The distance -- and silence -- between the two lonely, depressed men soon grows to intolerance, on Mahmut's part, of the chaos Yusuf has brought into his life. Nuri Bilge Ceylan directs this intimate drama.

netflix link here