Popular reviews

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  Review by hava ★★★★★ 4

  stalker'ı kapatıp porno açmak

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  Review by Adi ★★★★½ 9

  Uzak is about distance.

  The distance between rich and poor

  The distance between the literate and the illiterate

  The distance between the ones in the city and the ones in the village.

  The distance between thought and words.

  The distance between past and present.

  It's a distance that keeps us prisoner in our solitary shell.

  A distance we can either learn from or suffer in silence

  A haunting, unhurried exploration of loneliness, sadness and disconnect, Nuri Bilge Ceylan's paralysingly beautiful Uzak is a potent exploration of the human condition and it's affinity towards an even more human solitude. With his signature slow-burn presentation, beautiful cinematography and sparse dialogue, Ceylan crafts a portrait of people stuck in existence, a profound yet…

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  Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★½ 3

  Something about the ending of this movie is almost mystical.
  Certainly one of the very best films I've watched all year.
  Now I seriously can't wait to see Winter Sleep.
  Tarkovsky would be proud.

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  Review by enes ★★★★½

  soğuk bir film..
  hava soğuk, insanlar soğuk, ilişkiler soğuk..
  her şey anlamsız ve birbirinden uzak..
  taşradan istanbul'a gelmiş ve kendine bir hayat edinmeye çalışan yusuf ile kötü bir evlilik geçirmiş ve yalnızlığında boğulan mahmut karakterlerinin hayatına ve aralarındaki ilişkiye konuk oluyoruz..
  yusuf saf bir karakter, köyünden yeni çıkmış çoğu şeyden habersiz..
  mahmut ise çirkin ve kötü birine dönüşmüş ama onu böyle biri yapan da hayatın ta kendisi..
  ikisi de bir o kadar yalnız ve çaresizken birbirlerine sahip olmanın değerini bile bilemiyorlar..
  garibim yusufun her hareketi huysuz bir insana dönüşmüş mahmuta batmaya ve ayrılmalarına yol açıyor..
  karakterlerin düşünceleri, karamsarlıkları, yalnızlıkları ve çaresizlikleri o kadar iyi aktarılıyor ki izleyiciye ikisinin de uzaklara dalıp uzun uzun baktıkları sahnelerde adeta onların kafasından geçirdikleri şeyleri…

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  Review by Batuhan Taşçılar ★★★★ 4

  2 analyzes in English and Turkish(English Below)

  Türkçe:
  Nuri Bilge Ceylan'ın aşırı derecede etkilendiğim, bizleri 31 ödül ve 8 adaylık (76. Akademi Ödülleri'nde 'Yabancı Dilde En İyi Film' kategorisinde Türkiye'nin resmi adayı, Cannes Film Festivali'nde Büyük Ödül'ü kazanan ilk Türk filmi) ile Türk halkını çok güzel temsil etmekle kalmayıp gururlandıran bu muhteşem filmden sizlere bahsetmek istiyorum. Aslında hikaye olarak olmasa da bir nebze Nuri Bilge Ceylan'ın hayatını görüyoruz. Filmdeki ev kendi evi, araba kendi arabası. Özellikle durumun böyle olması aşırı doğal ve güzel olmuş. Cast desen zaten: Mehmet Emin Toprak (kuzeni), Muzaffer Özdemir (yakın arkadaşı), Ebru Ceylan (o zamanki sevgilisi, şimdiki eşi), Fatma Ceylan (annesi) ve samimi olduğu diğer kişiler. Aslında onun hayatındaki çoğu kişiyi bu filmde çok başarılı bir…

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  Review by Burak Yeldan ★★★★★ 1

  Farenin çığlıkları ve çırpınışları; Yusuf'un da kendi çaresizliğini fareninkiyle özdeşleştirmiş gibi onu izlemesi. İlk başta fareyi öylece çöpe atmaktan ve kedilere yem etmekten çekinmesi ve hemen sonrasında da kendi eliyle duvara vurarak öldürmesi; Yusuf'un İstanbul'da kalıp kendini yem etmek yerine ona direkt ölüm gibi gelen ''Kasaba''ya geri dönmesi..

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  Review by Dragonknight ★★★★½ 5

  ”Everywhere ends up being the same place.”

  Uzak, director Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s first major critical success, includes thematic elements which make it immensely appealing to the Turkish viewer but it also addresses universal themes – the painful “virtue” of loneliness and the never-ending melancholy of a broken up relationship – which take it above a simple exotic movie and turn in it into something that can easily – well, not that easily of course – draw the attention of a wider global audience.

  Ceylan’s filmmaking method is such that it often needs a fully composed and generously patient viewer who can tolerate the static mise-en-scenes of the film and its sequences of raw and unpolished emotions, that is how the…

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  Review by Edgar Cochran ✝️ ★★★★★ 2

  One year before Andrei Zvyagintsev amazed audiences visually in 2003, Uzak restored faith in Turkish cinema in the fact that new heights could be reached. What we are witnessing here is a melancholic masterpiece. Distance is not only physical; unfortunately, personal distance will determine how much we allow circumstances to shape our relationships. Great reflection for modernity.

  97/100

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  Review by nick ★★★★½

  Uzak is a poetic, microscopic look at the lives of two Turkish cousins, whose polar opposite personalities cause them to clash constantly in their Istanbul home, while deep down they are tormented by the same worldly human conditions. In a snowy Istanbul, sorrow runs deep, despite director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's masterful efforts to hold every ounce of emotions in.

  Touching on many topics, such as economic depression, different walks of life, and the meaning of life, Uzak is extremely philosophical in tone, on top of its largely subtle delivery, saves for several scenes depicting the comical, relatable tensions between those two cousins that warrant a solid laugh and offer human touch to this other wise almost untouchable experience. The acting…

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  Review by Moresbi ★★★★ 6

  #8 - Middle East Top 100 from 2025 Asian Cinema Challenge

  Progress: 15/52

  #20 - Nuri Bilge Ceylan from 25 Directors in 2025 Challenge 🗺️

  Progress: 24/75

  #30 – Turkey from March Around the World Challenge 2025

  Drama Edition - Progress: 1/30

  "Uzak" aka "Distant" was quiet/contemplative, rather... "alluring" and quite (titled-fit) "distant", in several ways.

  The synopsis (sort of) works but it can't grasp the movie's "depth", per say. The "omnipresent" title should be found/displayed in several different ways, through the length.

  Must give some kudos for the leading duo of Muzaffer Özdemir and Mehmet Emin Toprak, who really felt quite the fit for the production's purpose here ("their" own (self) stretches were particularly... "distant" 🙌😔) Also a mention…

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  Review by Rod Sedgwick ★★★★½ 2

  ''My film not only talks about the lives of several characters, but about life in a big city as well. City-dwellers try to organise their lives in a way that they don't have to count on anyone but themselves, and end up building their own prison cell. We don't ask anything of anyone, nor do we give anything either. Solidarity is a much more rural trait. It is somewhat of a necessity out in the country.''
  - NURI BILGE CEYLAN - on UZAK

  Oh the bridges that could be crossed and the distances that could be closed, if only men would open up and express their feelings. Nuri Bilge Ceylan evidently pours his soul onto celluloid with Uzak and the result is a confident, measured and languid lament for the down and detached. Ceylan's contemplative cinema speaks to me, because sometimes I feel just like Mahmut...

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  Review by Kristi Sejdi ★★★★ 1

  That despised cigarette in the final scene must have tasted like heaven. He might have felt the real distance (uzak), finally at peace with himself, with his empty soul and lost inspiration, no longer pretending to be an intellectual, or to enjoy Tarkovsky's movies as we saw some sequences from Stalker and The mirror. On that bench, in the wind, in front of the sea...he has accepted his own soul, full of flaws.