Siflutter
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
filippaberry84
I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Aneesa Wardle
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
eucalyptus9
One of the reasons I like to watch movies from around the world is too observe the different locations, be they city or country. A while back I watched "Tony Manero", shot in Santiago Chile, in which the city setting was about the most desolate and depressing locale I've ever seen. The setting in Tulpan is certainly desolate, but it's not depressing. Having lived part of my younger life in places like that, it's almost uplifting.As are the cast. Samal Esljamova is one of the beautiful women I've ever seen. The kids are delightful - Maha the singer, Beke the news reciter, the little one who seems to enjoy taunting and annoying Beke. Beke seems to be the only one aware of the camera - I had the feeling that if the camera wasn't there, the little one might have received a few clips across the ear-hole.Boni is funny, and the episode with the vet is fascinating. I wasn't sure how scared of the mother camel the cast really were, but it certainly seemed real enough. The little touches were done so well - the relationship between Tulpan's parents for instance - the stoic mother, the father trying to exert his authority and being studiously ignored.And then comes the climactic scene, the birth of the lamb. Both this, and the previous scene in which Ondas attempts to revive a dying lamb, were just riveting to watch. For sure, the actor playing Asa didn't look too excited by it all, but the realism couldn't be faulted.I thought this was a great film, a film showing that despite the differences in how we live, we all share the same burdens and joys and ambitions.
irishsounds
I was charmed, amused, and fascinated by this superb film. It manages to be so natural that it is hard to believe that the characters are in fact actors. The plot is unimportant, but the fly-on-the-wall look into the lives of a rare and wonderful people, in a rare and wonderful place - is priceless. This type of docu-drama would be highly beneficial as a teaching tool to history departments everywhere. I highly recommended this film, but certainly not for those whose appetite is limited to the usual dose of Hollywood mind candy; action, special effects, violence, sex, and schmaltz.There is a haunting and charming quality in this film that held me every minute right to the end. It is up there in my top 50 movies of all time along with Babette's Feast.
Philby-3
Kazakhstan is one of those dusty Central Asian countries left over from the break-up of the Soviet Empire and probably best known in the West as the putative birthplace of Sasha Baron Cohen's media clown Borat. In this film the documentary filmmaker Sergei Dvortsevoy goes some distance toward giving us westerners a taste of real life amongst shepherds on the steppe. Fresh out of the Russian navy submarine service, Asi goes to stay with his sister Samal and her sheep herdsman husband Ondas. Despite the isolation, wind, dust and extreme temperatures, Asi dreams of having his own flock and settling down. But Ondas refuses to help him with the flock until he finds a wife, for a single man cannot be a herdsman. The film opens with Ondas negotiating to marry Asi off to Tulpan, the daughter of a neighbour, but Tulpan, who remains behind a curtain and is never actually seen, rejects him – "His ears are too big". Asi tries again, alas to no avail.This plot is really secondary to an account of what it is like to live and work in a place like this. Ondas's lambs keep dying and the vet is called (how is a mystery). He diagnoses lack of feed, so the family must pack up its Yurt and move elsewhere. Much comedy is provided by a young injured camel being transported in the vet's sidecar, followed by the camel's mother which bites anyone who gets too close. Ondas and Samal's three children also provide plenty of entertainment. The oldest girl sings a mournful folksong all the time, the older boy recites entire news bulletins learned from the portable radio he keeps with him, and the younger boy is just plain cute. Asi's tractor driver friend, with his collection of pin-ups in his cab, also provides some amusement.Life on the steppe is tough, but brings with it a certain amount of freedom. Modernity, in the form of the official news bulletins, parodies of the official style, is at a good distance away. The sheep flocks are big enough to provide a living as long as there is a demand for their wool. Ondas, a proud tough man, would not be happy living in a town. Samal might, though. Dvortsevoy does not idealise his characters and they are all the more appealing. However, I can't see the steppes becoming a tourist destination except for some very hardy travellers.
kevin-rennie
What does a young Kazakh man like Asa (Askhat Kuchencherekov) do when he leaves the Russian navy? He looks for a bride and plans to settle down to a life of herding sheep on the Hungersteppe (Betpak Dala) of Kazakhstan. The only available bride is Tulpan who he sets out to woo. He resists his friend Boni's attempts to get him to head for the cities.Kazakh documentary maker Sergey Dvortsevoy has brought us the acclaimed feature film Tulpan. Its flat, dusty, dry plains are reminiscent of parts of outback Australia but are even more remote. The movie was shot 500 km from the nearest city Chimkent. It is harsh and unforgiving with powerful dust storms dominating the environment.Most of the interior scenes take place in traditional tent houses called jurtes. The family is close in every sense of the word. Asa's sister Samal (Samal Esljamova) and Ondas (Ondas Besikbasov) and their three children share their home with him. Some of the most touching scenes involve singing within the intimacy of the family group.The tiny domestic space is not the only cause of tension. Ondas is particularly tough on his brother-in-law Asa, perhaps because of the incredibly strong bonds between brother and sister.Like the lives of the local people, the making of the film revolved around and evolved with the lives of the sheep. Dvortsevoy explains on the official website:"The crew spent two weeks just following sheep. In the third week, we tried several times on video to understand what camera movements should be used when the sheep is giving birth. Once the camera crew was technically ready, we waited for one of the thousands of sheep to give birth. The shepherd had a radio station and would call us as soon as one was ready.When the scenes were shot, I understood that they are so unique and powerful that I had to adjust the rest of the film to those scenes rather than adjusting them to the script. From that on we opened the film to the experiences we made in everyday life and let them influence the story-building. In the end the film grew like a tree and many things were unpredictable." The karakul sheep from Central Asia have been controversial: "... it could refer to the fur of newborn Persian or karakul lambs or it could refer to broadtail fur taken from fetal lambs (or generally refer to both)—but whatever its exact definition, astrakhan boils down to one thing: early death for lambs, often even death for fetal lambs and their mothers." 'Astrakhan: Hot "New" Fashion is the Same Old Cruelty'The birth scene is the most gripping moment of the story. The website has a full explanation.One small criticism: the shaky hand-held camera work was sometimes unnecessarily distracting.It's easy to see why Tulpan has been hot at the film festivals. Superlatives are hard to avoid: original, raw, authentic, genuine, funny, joyous, honest.Dvortsevoy has restored respectability to the term reality. In fact it is hard not to think that this is a documentary at times. These people couldn't really be actors. It's great to see the potential of the movie medium stretched in such powerful ways.Cinema Takes: http://cinematakes.blogspot.com/
