The Girl in the Woods (Short)
Tofiq Rzayev’s starts with a simple text message, “Find me.” This is the message sent from a Ali, a friend who is about to get married, to Mert (Deniz Aslim), who almost immediately afterwards gets a call from Ali’s fiancee, Ceren (Gizem Aybike Sahin), who is worried about him. Between school and the forthcoming wedding, there is no time for games, although Ceren fears the worst, as they had a fight the last time they spoke. Mert goes to meet a friend of theirs, and afterwards, goes looking for Ali in the woods, where he finds a beautiful woman in a white dress (Cevahir Casgir). They talk for a bit, and the woman has sage advice for Mert about living; it’s enough to where Mert goes back the next day, and promises another day before that. Promises, doesn’t follow through.
Tofiq Rzayev & Erdogan Ulgur’s screenplay is a strong, subtle piece of storytelling as, at a certain point, it feels as though the film will continue in one direction, but ends up going in a very different one. Between the cinematography to the music, this is a beautiful film to experience, but that beauty only underlines the thematic connections the story draws with the characters. Casgir’s titular girl in the woods is something of an enigma up until the very end, at which point she becomes something else entirely. The bond she forms with Mert feels like a genuine one for both, until Mert betrays that bond, leading to unimaginable consequences. As one review I read about the film points out, there is a bit of an issue as to why these characters don’t call the police and report their friend as missing, but it only appears to have been a couple of days at the time the film starts, and since we’re discussing adults, it’s understandable why they would be less urgent in doing so. Besides, the text message shows them he is out there, right? That’s beside the point, though, because “The Girl in the Woods” has a more interesting tale to tell than just a simple mystery– this has something to say about humanity, our almost unknowing capacity to inflict pain, and the sad truth that most of the time, we don’t realize we’ve done so until it’s too late.
