KZBlog

Tulpan, the film by Sergey Dvortsevoy, about a young Kazakh man who returns to his village to find that it isn’t as easy as it looks to become a shepherd, is out on DVD. The film has been critically acclaimed and is supposed to be very funny and clever. Order DVDs here. No idea if they deliver to Kazakhstan or not, but presumably some DVDs will be making their way to Kazakhstan.

On a related note, I’ve been trying to watch as many Kazakh films as I can. I’ve seen Nomad, which I did quite enjoy though I thought it could be better. Racketeer was a decent film that had some great moments. The idea was great but the acting was often stilted and overall it felt like they phoned it in, an impression that was reinforced when the writer/director said he decided to make a gangster movie because that kind of movie sold well. I hear he has a new movie out now, and I would go see it on the strength of the potential I saw in Racketeer. I bought a copy of Gift for Stalin, but I haven’t been in the mood to watch a depressing film since I bought it, so I have yet to see it. Kek was disappointing. Depressing, bad acting, unclear plot and an unsatisfying ending. What else am I missing? What’s your favorite Kazakh movie? What should I watch next?