In director-writer Serkan Aktas’ short film The Librarian, Mazhar (Mustafa Aydin) lives alone with his parrot, Socrates. He is passionate about the tactile nature of books, but this passion is only equaled by the contents of said books, especially when they are the crème de la crème of classical literature.
But his life is no storybook. It is a grind. Mazhar battles with his inability to sleep soundly, haunted by recurring nightmares. This soon leads to him losing the job that he loves at the library because he can never show up on time. The firing sends our protagonist adrift. The old-world Turkey of Istanbul to which he clings is swiftly being appropriated by Arabesque culture.
“…Mazhar battles with his inability to sleep soundly, haunted by recurring nightmares…”
It is this point that the narrative becomes a tale about that which we humans struggle against: adaptation to the changing of the times. Mazhar’s loneliness, combined with bad luck in finding gainful employment, forces him further down the path of despair. He resorts to bizarre pep talks with a projection of himself as he would like to be, in a Fight Club kind of way, as his parrot’s conversation and encouragement are limited at best.
Aktas’s fluid direction and editing align nicely with Hasan Kilic’s exotic visuals, creating an environment that is expansive in its grandeur while also plumbing claustrophobic depths. This element shows us inside our heroes’ private turmoil. However, whilst being artfully proficient in its storytelling, there is never presented any real reason behind the frightening, phantasmagoric images that plague Mazhar’s dreams, consistently shrouding his life with clouds of melancholy.
This minor quibble, however, does not prevent The Librarian from being a finely composed short film, with much more to say than all too brief running time allows. A fleeting sketch of the tidal nature of the human condition.
"…A fleeting sketch of the tidal nature of the human condition."
