A mall cop at an Istanbul shopping centre, Cemil (Ozan Celik) dreams of a film career and acting glory. Or perhaps he just wants to feel seen. Unfortunately, he is not overburdened by talent or, in fact, any charisma whatsoever. Rejected by a scornful director following a dismal audition for the villain role in a remake of a 1960s “Yeşilçam” era B-movie thriller, Cemil becomes obsessed with Turgay Goral, the actor who played the role in the original film, in this vividly styled but thematically muddy portrait of obsessive fandom and assumed identity.
This slightly absurd, darkly comic drama makes use of various film formats. ‘Archival footage’ of grainy classic Turkish black-and-white films, shot by director Bariş Sarhan, is interspersed with Cemil’s tormented life in the present. The stylish shots and characteristic, often brightly coloured, locations betray the fact that director Bariş Sarhan also works as an art director and maker of commercials.
