Modern Times

Modern Times (Modern Zamanlar) is a new short movie by young Turkish director Aykut Alp Ersoy. It was released on Vimeo two weeks ago and received a lot of interest. The story is basic: a man living a lonely life in Izmir, spending his days behind his home laptop, his work computer, and commuting. But, the film makes one think. It starts with a quote from the late former Czech president and writer Vaclav Havel: “The tragedy of modern man is not that he knows less and less about the meaning of his own life, but that it bothers him less and less.” The final scenes of the movie raise universal issues about the new digital lifestyle, centered around social media sites like Facebook. The number one social network is huge in Turkey.