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Tulpan (Film)
Rating: M
Running Time: 99
Country: Kazakhstan
Director: Sergei Dvortsevoy
Cast: Tolepbergen Baisakalov, Ondas Besikbasov, Samal Esljamova, Askhat Kuchincherekov
Distributor: Palace
Film Worth: $12.50
Release Date: April 23, 2009
“…fascinating.”
"To see a world in a grain of sand/And a heaven in a wild flower." Make that a desert of sand, and William Blake's couplet encapsulates the subtle microcosmic appeal of this feature debut from director Sergey Dvortsevoy. It's superbly filmed and lit, and the (non) actors are good, but it's the wealth of detail about life on the Kazakh steppes that makes the drama so potent. Some of it's beautiful, and some of it is grotesque, but it's all fascinating.
Human beings share screen time here with camels, sheep, donkeys, cattle - and the desolate terrain itself. But the main character is Asa (Askhat Kuchincherekov), a young man who's left the navy and returned to the steppes in the hope of resuming traditional life. The catch is that to become a shepherd, he must first find a wife, with the only candidate being the allegedly beautiful Tulpan (Asa has one-way conversations with her through a closed door). Unfortunately, she thinks that his ears are too big, so the desperate Asa is reduced to producing a photo of Prince Charles to show that such things are relative. Meanwhile, his interminable tales about struggles with dangerous octopi fail to win over the prospective in-laws.
So far, so funny. But there are moments of grim tension too: the desperate attempt to save a dying lamb is heart-rending, for example. Even the lighter scenes carry a deeper resonance: the cultural clash between rural and urban, and ancient and modern, underpins a little boy's word-perfect recital of the international radio news. Asa's relationship with his sister, Samal (Samal Esljamova), is touchingly portrayed. But so is everything else. Skip the latest Hollywood trifle and see this instead.