[Herald Interview] For young people today, life is ‘Almost Entirely a Slight Disaster’

JEONJU, North Jeolla Province – “Virtually Solely a Slight Catastrophe” is a “movie about sad individuals, however not in a darkish means,” Turkish director Umut Subasi informed the viewers at its Asian premiere on the Jeonju Worldwide Movie Competition in North Jeolla Province on April 28.

The competition had described it as a “despair comedy.”

“Humor is a survival device,” Subasi defined.

Set in Istanbul, “Virtually Solely a Slight Catastrophe” revolves round younger adults Ayse, Zeynep, Mehmet and Ali, who encounter and work together with one another in practically each permutation, be it by means of stretches of coincidence.

Every of them is caught in an atypical and unsatisfactory existence, and every has a distinct means to deal with it, clinging to some type of hope or escape.

Ayse wonders if she will be able to cross as not being Turkish whereas she applies to check overseas. Ali fills within the bubbles of lottery tickets. Mehmet retains an eye fixed out for extramarital entanglements. Zeyneb, in the meantime, follows astrology on-line and appears to the celebrities — actually from the condo balcony, although none appear to look within the metropolis evening’s sky.

In moments alone when the load of life’s severity is acknowledged, every of them additionally out of the blue bursts into wails and tears.

It’s not a lot that they’re looking for a goal in life – that was a luxurious afforded to older generations. With a bittersweet tone infused with humor all through, these characters are greedy to search out even a small little bit of which means.

For Subasi, there was no basically no different story he might inform for his debut characteristic.

“Making a movie about sad younger individuals in Turkey was so clear for me, it was the one factor that I need to make a movie,” the director informed The Korea Herald in an unique interview on April 29.

“I began to assume and begin to construct the construction in in all probability the center of 2019,” he mentioned concerning the origins. He had accomplished 4 brief movies already since 2013, and felt snug in that kind.

“While you make brief movies, everybody expects from you a characteristic. It’s one thing ridiculous, however it’s a factor,” Subasi defined. “It’s utterly completely different from me.”

Simply because the director had began to dig into his transition to the complete characteristic kind, the world was abruptly transitioning itself with sudden COVID-19 lockdowns.

“Really, within the pandemic, writing was extra stress-free for me,” the director confided, “as a result of everyone (was in) lockdown.” “Much less strain,” the movie’s producer and Subasi’s accomplice, Cemre Erul, sitting subsequent to him emphasised to The Korea Herald. The filmmaker now had the time he wanted to ensure nothing was missed.

The director added he didn’t really feel the necessity to rewrite to issue within the desperation felt through the pandemic as a result of he had felt the desperation he wanted to specific in Turkey for already 10 years or extra.

“And fortunately it didn’t have an effect on the manufacturing,” Erul added. The movie was shot in simply 13 days in January 2022, because the omicron wave was sweeping by means of. “We truly obtained the information that everyone within the crew obtained COVID on our closing day of taking pictures, so we have been very fortunate,” she added with a wry smile.

After the movie’s first screening in Jeonju, the director empathized with these within the viewers who felt caught in comparable conditions in Korea concerning the “dangerous future of this technology all around the globe.” The following day alone with The Korea Herald, he doubled down, including it is just getting worse for youthful individuals. “Virtually 20 years in the past, I believe every part was simpler,” he mentioned. “For Turkey it’s extra sophisticated as a result of economical, social, political, cultural – life – is getting more durable and more durable.

“And younger individuals really feel the pressures on their shoulders day by day. Each second of the on a regular basis life.”

“Every character has their very own escape means,” Subasi mentioned, relating the movie to the real-world scenario, “however I believe it doesn’t work.”

Having been concerned in “Virtually Solely a Slight Catastrophe” in virtually each means – writing, directing, enhancing – and premiering it in Rotterdam, Netherlands only a yr after taking pictures, adopted by the competition circuit, the director has not but had the house to consider what’s subsequent.

“I need to make private movies, I need the movie to signify me,” Subasi burdened. “Crucial factor within the movie for me: the tone.”

Nevertheless darkish the precise scenario, for the Turkish director, “Humor is my means out – or escape.”

Umut Subasi’s “Virtually Solely a Slight Catastrophe” was in competitors with 9 different international movies within the worldwide part on the Jeonju Worldwide Movie Competition. This yr’s occasion, in its twenty fourth yr, invited 247 movies from 42 nations. The movie competition closed Saturday.