The Road

Jol

Kazakhstan, France, Japan

2001

85 Min

Color

1.66:1

Kazakh

Currently 3.3/5 Stars.
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PROD Joël Farges, Elise Jalladeau, Gaziz Chaldybaev

SCR Darezhan Omirbaev, Limara Jeksembaeva

CAST Jamshed Usmonov, Saoule Toktibaeva, Alnur Turgambayeva, Magjane Omirbayev, Valeria Gouliaeva, Valeri Skoribov, Moukhamedjane Alpisbaev, Serik Aprimov

SOUND Helena Vlazneva

Cannes (Un Certain Regard), Toronto, Chicago, Mar del Plata

Synopsis

A comical self-study of a filmmaker’s life and work spurred on by contemplation over a love letter from his wife. His dreams and anxieties are seen through his own eyes while on a long and emotional road trip to his native village. Amir remembers not only his desire for the young woman who edited his film but also that of his wife’s accusing look upon surprising them in the editing room…

The filmmaker’s part is played by Tajik director Djamshed Usmonov (To Get to Heaven First You Have to Die).

Director

Darezhan Omirbaev

With a degree in Mathematics, Omirbaev first approached cinema theoretically, graduating from VGIK with a thesis on film semiotics and writing criticism for the magazine Novoe Kino. Omirbaev’s theoretical concerns translate seemlessly to the making of films, and like other critics turned directors, finds human expression for his ideas. Like Bresson, he pays close attention to details, to points of subtle contact between people, and particularly in Kardiogramma – to the merging of dream and reality. And like Godard, his films are self-referential (Jol), and literary (Kairat). His first feature film, Kairat, won the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival. —Seagull Films