A Turkish teen milks cows while his mother milks secrets. Rural angst never looked so gorgeous.
A high school graduate, Yusuf could not pass the university entrance exam. Writing poetry is his greatest passion and some of his poems are being printed in various obscure literary journals. But neither these poems, nor the rapidly falling price of the milk they sell, are being of any benefit to Yusuf and Zehra's lives. When Yusuf finds out about Zehra's secret affair with the town's stationmaster he gets disconcerted. Will he find the way to cope with his anxiety for the unknown future, the rapid change that he is going through and the pain of taking a step into adulthood and leaving his youth behind
Cinematography
Every frame looks like a stolen painting. The mist, the cows, the longing.
Direction
Kaplanoğlu lets silence do the screaming. Minimalism as emotional assault.
Director
Semih Kaplanoğlu
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Part of Kaplanoğlu's 'Yusuf Trilogy' (with 'Egg' and 'Honey'), though chronologically first in narrative. The director shot in his actual childhood region of Çanakkale.
The falling milk prices mirror Turkey's 1990s economic crisis and rural depopulation. Yusuf's artistic paralysis is literally the country losing its villages to Istanbul.
TR
