Sunday 24 October 2021

Kaïrat (1991 Darezhan Omirbayev & scr)

A sort of Kazakh 'L'Etranger'* as a sombre young man studies, wanders around the city and has a short affair with another student, punctuated by good Bunuelian dream sequences (e.g. on a Ferris wheel), with a dreamy sort of Tarkovskian eye. Lots of trains everywhere, good scenes: rocks through the windows, the unobserved fight in the building under construction, where the pigeons suddenly take flight, the boy ("I can whistle"), the amorous couple on the train, a head-turning blonde dinner lady, the final shot of snow. Yes, very good. Very short (an hour 12).

With Talgat Assetov, Indira Jeksembaeva.

Photographed by Aubakir Suleyev.

A rare smile from Kaïrat

I don't get how that bus driving training machine worked at all, unless it was a live video feed.

* Or, on reflection, is it more of a Kazakh Baisers Volés? The scene with the young man staring at himself in the mirror could be a nod to the 'Antoine Doinel' mirror scene.

Did not recognise the early German talkie they were watching.

The scene where he decides to fight the bully is curious - he has no reason to. You know it's going to end up badly, because almost exactly the same thing happens in Cardiogramma. Even the way they are found sitting afterwards is exactly the same position, youth and boy.

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