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The Stranger in My Pocket (Cebimdeki Yabancı)

The Stranger in My Pocket (Cebimdeki Yabancı) (translated)

Movie · 2018 · 7 people

A dinner-table game with phones puts a circle of friendships to the test in Cebimdeki Yabancı (The Stranger in My Pocket), a Turkish film released on February 2, 2018. Directed by Serra Yılmaz, it combines comedy and drama and is adapted from the Italian film Perfetti Sconosciuti. At the Turkish box office it earned roughly 11 million lira from about 846,000 admissions. It runs about 95 minutes.

The story begins when seven old friends decide to meet for dinner. There is conversation and laughter around the table, until someone suggests a simple game: everyone puts their phone on the table, and every incoming message and notification is read aloud. As the lives behind the friends' masks come out, the balance of their relationships is upended, and a group that thought itself close turns out to be made of strangers. The cast includes Serkan Altunorak (Metin), Buğra Gülsoy (Kerem), Belçim Bilgin (Banu), Leyla Lydia Tuğutlu (Tuba), Şükrü Özyıldız (Sinan), Şebnem Bozoklu (Esra) and Çağlar Çorumlu (Suavi).

Murat Dişli wrote the screenplay and Mithat Can Özer composed the music. The film was produced by Ferzan Özpetek and Necati Akpınar, with BKM Film and İmaj on the production side and Mars Entertainment Group as distributor.

DirectorSerra Yılmaz
Production companyBKM Film, İmaj

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Cast

Belçim Bilgin Belçim Bilgin Actor · 43 years old Banu Buğra Gülsoy Buğra Gülsoy Actor · 44 years old Kerem Çağlar Çorumlu Çağlar Çorumlu Actor · 48 years old Suavi Leyla Lydia Tuğutlu Leyla Lydia Tuğutlu Actor · 37 years old Tuba Şebnem Bozoklu Şebnem Bozoklu Actor · 47 years old Esra Serkan Altunorak Serkan Altunorak Actor · 49 years old Metin Şükrü Özyıldız Şükrü Özyıldız Actor · 38 years old Sinan

Titles sharing this cast

Through different eyes

Cinephile Looks at script, editing and directing choices; keeps a distance from formula films.

Cebimdeki Yabancı adapts the Italian film Perfetti Sconosciuti, and an actor-heavy story built around a dinner table lives or dies by the rhythm of its script. Seven old friends and phones laid on the table: a clever device that generates dramatic tension by itself. Serra Yılmaz's direction chooses to give the actors room rather than show off. For viewers who know the original, though, the surprises are largely known in advance, and whenever the adaptation follows the source's structure instead of looking for a local voice, it weakens its own identity. The running time of about 95 minutes suits a chamber piece like this; the story moves without sagging. The cast, including Serkan Altunorak, Belçim Bilgin and Çağlar Çorumlu, largely does justice to the ensemble.

Family Viewer Asks whether the whole household can watch it; cares about humour and heart.

At first the premise looks innocent: friends put their phones on the dinner table. But the secrets that surface are about grown-up matters like relationships, hidden lives and lies. It is not one to watch with children, and even with teenagers some parts may need talking through. Watch it with your partner or friends and a long conversation around the table will follow; you may even look at your phones differently.

History & Society Lens Asks about the period, the social background and what the work reflects.

The film holds up a mirror to an age in which the smartphone has become the black box of private life. The phones seven old friends lay on the table show that privacy now travels in our pockets and that a single notification can shake friendships of many years. The story makes us ask how much of what we take for closeness is held up by mutual secrets. That question is universal, and the fact that the film adapts an Italian original shows how widely the theme resonates. Still, the adaptation is timid about adding a layer specific to Turkish society, and it rarely asks who these friends are or where they come from.

These are not reader reviews: they are short editorial takes written from different viewer perspectives with AI assistance. Reader reviews are below.

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