The Gulf

This restrained and realistic record of a personal crisis slowly but surely acquires allegorical dimensions. After a failed marriage about which he doesn’t want to speak, a young man, Selim, returns from Istanbul to his birthplace, Izmir - which just happens to be the birthplace of the filmmaker, who refers in his first full-length feature to autobiographical material as well as the state of the country. Selim doesn’t seem able to pick up where he left off. He roams aimlessly through the city, has sex with a married former girlfriend and watches as his affluent father’s company is threatened with bankruptcy. But while the stink of a burning oil tanker drives a lot of people out of town, Selim seems to be one of the few who doesn’t mind. A strange encounter with someone who alleges he knows Selim from military service puts him in touch with new people from the poorer areas of Izmir.