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Somewhere in Between (Araf)

Somewhere in Between (Araf)

Movie · 2012 · 4 people

Turkish drama Araf, known internationally as Somewhere in Between, dates from 2012. Yeşim Ustaoğlu directed it, wrote the screenplay and produced it. A co-production of Turkey, Germany and France, it opened on September 21, 2012. Its title refers to the Islamic notion of limbo, and it is a story about growing up and coming to grips with reality.

Shot in Karabük, the story centers on two young people working shifts at a huge highway gas station: 18-year-old Zehra, who lives with her family in her village, and Olgun. Apart from Olgun's love for her, what binds the pair is a fascination with the worlds they watch on television and the dreams of entering such lives. In this place where everything is passing, they wait for their lives to change suddenly one day. The balance is overturned when 38-year-old Mahur stops at the station and a relationship begins between him and Zehra. Neslihan Atagül, Barış Hacıhan and Özcan Deniz share the lead roles, with Nihal Yalçın and Yasemin Çonka also cast.

It is often mentioned alongside Ustaoğlu's Güneşe Yolculuk, Bulutları Beklerken and Pandora'nın Kutusu.

DirectorYeşim Ustaoğlu

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Cast

Also in the cast: Barış Hacıhan

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Through different eyes

AI-assisted editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives. They are not reader reviews; those are below.

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Written, directed and produced by Yeşim Ustaoğlu, Somewhere in Between turns a huge highway gas station into a kind of in-between zone. A place where everything is passing through becomes a simple but effective visual metaphor for the limbo in the title. Shot in Karabük, the film builds Zehra and Olgun's longing for the lives they see on television in an unforced way, so one critic calling it Ustaoğlu's most realistic film makes sense. Özcan Deniz's Mahur adds weight alongside the young pair of Neslihan Atagül and Barış Hacıhan. The long running time is a consistent choice for a film about waiting, but at times it slows the rhythm more than necessary.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

Somewhere in Between is the story of a youth stuck in the provinces: 18-year-old Zehra, who lives with her family in her village, and Olgun, who works shifts, live on dreams of the other lives they see on television. The film strikingly sets the screen as an escape hatch for these young people against the highway as a place everyone passes through while they stay put. The relationship that begins between Zehra and Mahur, twenty years her senior, also raises questions about age gaps and women's condition of waiting. Ustaoğlu shows loneliness and narrow options without lecturing.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humor and heart.

There is an 18-year-old girl's relationship with a man twenty years older, and heavy emotional themes. The pace is slow too, so kids will get bored. It is a thought-provoking drama for adults. It may speak most to parents who want to understand young people's dreams and loneliness. Watch it on your own, not with the little ones.

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