Ceylon entered the film industry as a photographer. Therefore, the main feature of his work is the use of lenses. In a large number of long and long shots, the characters slowly walk into the picture and slowly walk out of the picture. A feeling of alienation and loneliness is conveyed in between; in the fixed-angle wide-angle lens, the close-up changes of the characters’ expressions are both profound and distorted. The audience is led to feel at the same time from a distant observation angle and an excessively close placement angle. The emotions of the characters and the loneliness of the city. Whether it’s "The Far Place" in 2003, "Weather Suitable for Breaking Up" in 2006, or "Three Monkeys" in 2008, Ceylon has maintained a consistent style: simple plot, little dialogue, little soundtrack, dim tone, The atmosphere is strong, and the story is told through slow-moving shots, focusing on the emotional indifference and alienation between people. Each picture in Ceylon's works can be individually extracted into a high-quality photographic work, and combined to form a strong and lonely charm.
"Distant" is Nuri-Big-Ceylon's internationally famous work. The English title "Distant" not only means distant, but also represents the alienation between people. The protagonist of the story is a pair of cousins Mamu and Youshu. Mamu lives alone in Istanbul and makes a living by helping people shoot merchandise posters. After divorcing his wife, Ma Mu's life is left alone and closed. Apart from watching TV alone night after night, he hides in the studio and shoots monotonous and boring merchandise photos. The estrangement between Mamu and Istanbul is finally revealed by his cousin from far away and his ex-wife who is going to go far away. You Shu is Mamu's cousin, always yearning to travel the world on a big boat, he suddenly came from the countryside to Istanbul to seek refuge with his cousin Mamu, wanting to find a job as a crew member to realize his dream. Ma Mu did not show any enthusiasm for his cousin who came suddenly, but placed him in a small room and continued to lead his isolated life.
You Shu came to Istanbul with dreams, but reality hit him repeatedly. You Shu went to the dock to look for a job, but others told him that the crew had nothing at the end of their career. You Shu wanted to make money and send it to his mother so that her mother could be proud in the village, but the unresponsive application process made him frustrated and frustrated. You Shu wanted to befriend a beautiful girl, but his indifferent look made him shrink and fear. You Shu wanted to regain the joy of the past with his cousin, but Mamuna's attitude of refusing to be thousands of miles away only made him lower his head and hide. There are no dreams in Istanbul, dreams are far away.
Ma Mu once had a dream and aspired to become a first-class photographer, but now he has only a soulless body. Mamu hates the interference after Yushu's arrival, so he must hide and watch pornography late at night. Mamu hates Yushu smoking in the room and not putting his shoes in the shoe cabinet. Mamu urges You Shu to find a job quickly and return to a peaceful life. Mamu always ate dinner alone in the tavern, and never tried to invite Yushu to dine with him. However, Mamu overheard Youshu calling his mother, peeping at Youshu discarding the trash bag containing the little mouse-Youshu snarled on the phone because his mother was humiliated, and because he couldn't bear the little mouse being slowly tortured to death, he was cruel. The trash bag smashed against the wall-You Shu still had strong feelings in his heart, and he could find an outlet for the feelings. Ma Mu envied him.
Ma Mu had no feelings in his heart, but this indifferent city blocked the exit of all feelings. Mamu's long divorced wife invited him to meet and told him that she was about to immigrate to Canada with her current husband. The ex-wife was irritated by Ma Mu's indifferent performance, mentioning the fact that the two had had but shed children and the fact that they could not have children. Ma Mu didn't know how to deal with it, but secretly stood outside his ex-wife's house at night. Mahler had always been alone to take pictures for the manufacturer, but made an exception to let You Shu, who couldn't help, serve as his assistant, and then pay You Shu a surprise reward. Mahler rarely took the initiative to contact his family. When he received the news that his mother was hospitalized for surgery, he silently accompany her by the bedside of her mother and carefully supported her to go to the toilet at night. Mamu was driving on the road and saw sheep and the setting sun. He was excited to construct a beautiful photographic picture, but when You Shu proposed to get off the car and pick up the photographic equipment, Mamu resolutely refused, not wanting the two to spend the time. Wasting on my unrealistic dreams.
Mamu finally clashed with Youshu. Mamu called home, asking Yushu not to stay at home at night, he wanted to hire prostitutes at home. When Mamu returned home, he saw a messy scene, and his sex with the woman was obviously not going well. So when Youshu came back, Mamu got angry, accused Youshu of the inconvenience caused to him, and vented all the frustrations in his heart on Youshu. Later, the two changed their faces by changing a pocket watch. Mamu couldn't find his pocket watch everywhere, and couldn't help suspecting that Yushu had stolen it. Later, Mamu found the watch in a box, but because of his affection, he pretended not to find it. You Shu repeatedly explained that he had never stolen the watch, but the explanation was interrupted by the phone call from Mamu's ex-wife. Mamu took the phone and hid in the bathroom, trying to pour out his thoughts to his ex-wife who was about to leave the next day, but he couldn't say anything. Neither of them fell asleep that night. Early the next morning, You Shu left with anger and grievance, because he found that Mamu had searched his handbag. Ma Mu went to the airport and hid in the corner silently watching the departure of his ex-wife and her current husband.
Where is the dream? Following Ma Mu's footsteps, You Shu came to the big city to pursue his dreams, but embarked on Ma Mu's old path and watched his dreams shattered by reality. Ma Mu's estrangement shattered her ex-wife's dream, but she put aside the broken dream and plucked up the courage to pursue a brand new dream far away. Where's Mamu? After Mamu returned home from the airport, he looked at the empty room that Yushu left after leaving. You Shu took away all his luggage, but left a pack of cigarettes. I remember that when You Shu asked Mamu to smoke, Mamu said coldly that he did not smoke such cheap cigarettes. Now, Mamu is carrying this pack of cigarettes, standing alone in the port, looking into the distance. After a long time, he sat on a bench aside and smoked the pack of cheap cigarettes. This smoke comes from the distant past, this scene, and goes to the distant future. Where is the dream? Between coming and going, between here and that, between far and near. Maybe, maybe.
The work of Nouri Bige Ceylon is in sharp contrast with the Spanish director Perod Almodóvar. Almodóvar is good at filming women’s films. He likes to use bright and bright colors to promote many hardships but is positive. He has an optimistic attitude, prefers cheerful and chattering dialogue, and his works have a strong Latin style. Ceylon is good at making male films. Even though a female perspective is adopted in "A Weather Suitable for Breaking Up", the theme is still male emotions. Ceylon also likes to use gray and dim lighting, always expounding the alienated nature of interpersonal relationships, and prefers very few dialogue and soundtracks. Compared with the open-minded "spirit" in Almodovar's works, Ceylon's works always exude a Dostoevsky-like alienated "atmosphere", which should be related to Turkey's belief in Islam.
In addition to Ceylon, Greek film master Angelopoulos's "Sorrowful Prairie" and Mexican new director Carlos Legadas's "Silence Light" also use a lot of long shots and slow tempo to narrate. However, the three directors have their own characteristics in the use of long shots. Angelopoulos uses long shots to shoot extremely large scenes, and the characters are either static or as small as ants in order to convey a kind of person. Feeling small under the pressure of environment and history. Carlos Regadas pushes and pulls at a very slow speed in a long shot to approach or move away from the person being photographed. The slow change of the shot shows the subtle changes in the emotions of the characters under depression. As for Ceylon, he prefers to fix the lens and focus on a certain point in the vicinity, and then let the characters enter and exit the screen at a distance, or walk in and away from the focus, so as to convey the relationship between the characters and the outside world and the audience. Feeling of alienation. These three directors are all excellent directors in the field of art film. The works they shoot may be boring to some audiences, and the plot is relatively monotonous. However, they are all outstanding in the handling of the picture and the brewing of the atmosphere. Techniques to convey human nature and emotions are worthy of more attention from those who love to watch movies.
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