A young woman, the titular Gulizar (Ecem Uzun), and her fiance Emre (Bekir Behrem), walk into an immigration office. Most serious couples do things like this especially in Kosovo, a country new to Gulizar, an immigrant from Turkey. The office notices bruises on her, which are neither from him nor from whatever scenario that some may think. It’s actually because of a man who sexually assaults her on the last stop of her journey to Kosovo. They report the incident to Emre’s cop relative Bilal (Hakan Yufkacıgil), who tells them to let him handle it. Tensions between them get absolutely worse when she starts acting strange around Bajram (Ernest Malazogu), a member of their community.
Elements work in Belkıs Bayrak’s Gulizar and it reinforces all its emotions through its framing, especially close to the wedding. Emre is slaughtering a goat with men in his family when he looks towards his home and sees Gulizar. She looks out the window and walks away and it’s been long since I felt an emotion like that. The camera decides how deep to look into a scene not just to show rage but also their alienation. This couple’s dynamic is Emre making Gulizar’s sexual assault about him but the film, thankfully though, doesn’t invalidate him. The film is basically about two people who don’t understand each other and life making these existing divisions worse. The film’s coldness contributes to this but thankfully its world isn’t devoid of hope for its already sad characters.
- Rated: NR
- Genre: Drama
- Release Date: 9/7/2024
- Directed by: Belkıs Bayrak
- Starring: Bekir Behrem, Ecem Uzun, Hakan Yufkacıgil
- Produced by: Mehmet Bahadır Er, Valmira Hyseni
- Written by: Belkıs Bayrak
- Studio: Plan Bee Films, Protim Video Production
