calendario eventi  :: 

X

25/8/2011

Egg (Yumurta) / Milk (Sut)

ICA - Institute of Contemporary Arts, London

Milk

The second instalment of Kaplanoglu's Yusef trilogy, taking us further back in time, Milk follows Yusuf as he finished his studies and enters adulthood. Failing his university entrance exams, Yusef nonetheless establishes himself as a respected published poet, yet finds his rarified sensibility at odds with his need to make a living.

Struggling, he is forced to help his mother sell milk in the local market. But his discovery that his mother is having an affair poses an unsettling dilemma. Should he behave in accordance with the traditional male-dominated rural culture and traditions of the town or should he develop a new perspective in accordance with the new modernisation process that is on-going in the area? Industrialisation, brings the opening of a new supermarket which threatens their meagre livelihood driving a further wedge between mother and son. Yet their chosen paths are unexpected as the young Yusef turns to tradition while his mother is the one who seems to yearn for a more forward thinking emancipation.

With a gorgeous probing eye and innovative sound design, Milk's formal exploration of rural modernisation is at times reminiscent of the formal experiments of mid-period Antonioni. The heart of the film lies in how the relationship between mother and son reflects that of a country lurching into the industrial future. As Turkey gives birth to a new age, so Yusef and his mother must find their own places in this new order - and most importantly, in each others lives.

Delicate, riveting and deeply human, Milk manages to explore the politics of Being with rare emotional power and insight.

Dir: Semih Kaplanoglu, 2008, Turkey, 102mins, Turkish with English subtitles

Cast: Melih Selcuk, Basak Koklukaya, Riza Akin

----------

Egg

A rare chance to see the first film in Kaplanoglu's Yusef trilogy, which plays in reverse chronology, starting with Yusef as a middle aged man and eventually concluding with his most recent film Bal (shown last month) sees middle-aged Yusuf, a poet, forced to return to his childhood home by his mother's death.

Informed of his mother's dying wish to perform a ritual sheep sacrifice, Yusef sets out on a journey to the tomb of a saint accompanied by young relative, Ayla. Arriving late in the evening, the pair are forced to wait until dawn to complete their task. Checking into a labyrinthine hotel, the pair split up to explore eventually meeting up again later that evening in the middle of a wedding feast. The pair, shorn from their everyday realities find themselves united through their parallel discomfort and alienation as the wedding spins around them.

The stark contrast between the promise of regeneration and life in the wedding banquet, and their own sombre mission reflects their own internal struggles to find a place for themselves in a changing world. As much through acknowledgement of their mutual discomfort, as any great personal revelation, a fragile bond is formed between the pair. Preparing for their task the following day they acknowledge that somehow their lives have changed and the future will not be what either had planned for. A film about ghosts, guilt and redemption, this mysterious, tender loose film is a revelation as it explores how the spiritual intersects with the everyday to infuse our lives with meaning and a little magic.

Dir: Semih Kaplanoglu, 2007, 97mins, Turkey, Turkish with English subtitles

Cast: Nejat Isler, Saadet Aksoy, Ufuk Bayraktar

For press information:
Jeanette Ward - Head of Press Tel: 020 77661407 Email: jeanette.ward@ica.org.uk

ICA - Institute of Contemporary Arts
The Mall - London
£10 / £8 Concessions / £7 ICA Members

stampa

permanent link