Aksuat

Kazakhstan, Japan

1997

78 Min

Color

1.37:1

Kazakh, Russian

Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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PROD Gulmira Aprimova, Shinju Sano, Serik Aprimov

CAST Sabit Kurmanbekov, Erzhan Ashim, Erbolat Ospankulov, Inessa Radionova, Nurzhuman Ikhtymbaev, Makangali Abdullaev, Gulnazit Omarova, Serik Aprimov

SOUND Andrei Vlaznev

Berlinale (Panorama), San Francisco, Rotterdam

Synopsis

Aman’s quiet village life in east Kazakhstan comes to an abrupt end when his younger brother arrives, on the run from the city and bringing his pregnant girlfriend, Zhanna, with him. Soon the villagers believe Aman to have taken Zhanna for his mistress – flouting village values and traditions. Aman feels he is at odds with his surroundings and himself. —British Film Institue

Director

Serik Aprimov

Aprimov worked as a driver at Kazakhfilm Studio before attending VGIK to study film directing. He made an immediate impact with his thesis film, The Last Stop, which refused to romanticize peasant life, and looked critically at the perpetual problems of alcoholism and misogyny. Aprimov often employs a documentary aesthetic to locate emotional truth. —Seagull Films