Peter Keough. Turkey Distraught. The Providence Phoenix. 

Turkey Distraught

…Two of those in the new series are by Zeki Demirkubuz, whose The Third Page, in the first festival, showed originality, imagination, and talent. Since then, however, he must have signed up for Existentialism 101, because his newest works exude a weary air of ennui, absurdity, and nihilism. Demirkubuz nonetheless brings to this familiar material a stylistic energy and passionate commitment that prove he’s an artist worth watching.

The two films are part of an unfinished “Tales About Darkness” trilogy. Fate (2001; April 18 at 7:30 p.m., with the director present) is inspired by Albert Camus’s The Stranger but starts out reminiscent of Jonathan Parker’s fine recent adaptation of Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener.” Instead of Bartleby’s catchphrase “I would prefer not,” Musa, a clerk in a customs office, responds to every intrusion into his life with “It doesn’t matter.”

His mother dies, he gets married, his wife cheats on him, he’s accused of murder—it doesn’t matter. Should it matter to anyone else? Demirkubuz’s long takes, minimal dialogue, and technique of having much of the action take place between cuts or off frame inject dread and tension and a taste of the void into the proceedings, but in the end he succumbs to blather. Musa and the DA have a long chat about freedom, fate, human nature, and the like (DA: “Your case reminds me of this French novel I’ve been reading…”) that makes the Absurd seem, well, absurd.

Having completed the Camus portion of the course, we move on to Sartre and his notion that Hell is other people. Things matter all too much to the hero of Confession (2001; April 19 at 1 p.m., with the director present), a flush businessman who’s tormented by the suspicion that his wife is cheating on him. And well he might be concerned: she cheated on his best friend years ago — with him — and his friend committed suicide. As the Bergmanesque psychodrama plays out, the confession of the title comes from an unexpected source; the resolution is punishing and desperate but also life-affirming. Powerful performances from the cast and taut directorial control make this an emotionally exhausting workout…

Peter Keough. The Providence Phoenix . April 16-22, 2004. 

Excerpt.