Something Useful
Two women sharing an overnight train journey discover a fragile connection between artistic longing, professional duty, and mortality.
Overview
A journey through memories and choices unfolds on an overnight train, where lives intersect in unexpected ways.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- melancholic
- contemplative
- poetic
- quiet evening
- reflective weekend
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a sophisticated, humane, and poetic character drama distinguished by strong performances and carefully observed conversations.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Leyla and Canan travel overnight by train while their separate motivations gradually intersect.
Leyla's poetic and theatrical interests intersect with Yavuz's situation and Canan's frustrated wish to become an actress.
The film uses everyday travelers, family pressures, work uncertainty, and intimate dialogue to explore existential questions without melodrama.
The plot repeatedly invokes the possible meeting of an executioner and a poet, giving the characters' train encounter a deliberately suggestive frame.
Films like Something Useful, and why
Before Sunrise
shared intimate character drama, train journey structure, and quiet existential atmosphere
Paterson
shared contemplative road or transit setting, chance encounters, and emotionally searching dialogue
Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
shared Turkish arthouse sensibility, poetic realism, and focus on loneliness and human connection
The Day I Became a Woman
shared understated drama, female friendship, artistic longing, and nocturnal urban atmosphere
Movie Details
- Director
- Pelin Esmer
- Release Date
- 2017-04-12
- Runtime
- 107 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (53)
Cast
- Başak Köklükaya
- Öykü Karayel
- Yiğit Özşener
- Ayşenil Şamlıoğlu
- Berfu Öngören
- Melih Düzenli
- Sedat Kalkavan
- Fatih Sevdi
- İbrahim Selim
- Süleyman Karaahmet
Common questions
- What is Something Useful about?
- Two women sharing an overnight train journey discover a fragile connection between artistic longing, professional duty, and mortality.
- What is Something Useful like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Something Useful as measured, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Something Useful violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Something Useful as mild.
- What did critics think of Something Useful?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a sophisticated, humane, and poetic character drama distinguished by strong performances and carefully observed conversations.
- Which films are like Something Useful?
- Films with a similar feel include Before Sunrise, Paterson, Once Upon a Time in Anatolia, and The Day I Became a Woman.
- How long is Something Useful?
- Something Useful runs 107 minutes.
