I watched this film from Kazakhstan on French Blu-ray after coming across a glowing review on Bluray.com.
It surpassed my highest expectations. Cinematography is astonishingly beautiful and it manages to convey a complex and very emotional story without use of any dialog in a way that feels natural. There is a scant info about this film online (and the bluray is free of any extras). I found that the story supposedly takes place in Altay mountains in the fourth century AD. The film had its international premiere at Toronto Film Festival in 2009 and was nominated for Oscar in 2010.
This (and "The Winter Bone") are two major surprising discoveries for me this year so far. In a way the two are similar, both telling stories of survival and dealing with most primal elements of human nature. Also, the animals play major part in both films.
Has anyone seen it?
Kelin/Daughter-in-law (Ermek Tursunov, 2009)
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Yakushima
- Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:42 am
- Location: US
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jsteffe
- Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 1:00 pm
- Location: Atlanta, GA
Re: Kelin/Daughter-in-law (Ermek Tursunov, 2009)
Yakushima, could you provide a link to the review? The film looks intriguing.
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Yakushima
- Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:42 am
- Location: US
Re: Kelin/Daughter-in-law (Ermek Tursunov, 2009)
Jsteffe, here it is:
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Kelin-Blu-ray/10607/
The screen shots don't even come close to how marvelously the film actually looks on screen.
http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Kelin-Blu-ray/10607/
The screen shots don't even come close to how marvelously the film actually looks on screen.
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jsteffe
- Joined: Sat Mar 31, 2007 1:00 pm
- Location: Atlanta, GA
Re: Kelin/Daughter-in-law (Ermek Tursunov, 2009)
Thanks! I really appreciate you bringing it to our attention. It looks like a gorgeous film, and the fact that it lacks dialogue intrigues me even further.
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Yakushima
- Joined: Mon Dec 01, 2008 5:42 am
- Location: US
Re: Kelin/Daughter-in-law (Ermek Tursunov, 2009)
You are most welcome!
It blows my mind that this gem was noticed by the Film Academy but overlooked by most cinephiles, probably a unique case, or the world is upside down now:)
I did a search on Russian sites and found that this film has caused a big controversy in Kazakhstan even before its release, in 2009. It was apparently a high profile project for the reviving Kazakh movie industry, but the bureaucrats from the "Kazakhfilm" (studio that held the rights to the film) did not like it and insisted that the film must be censored and re-edited prior to release. The objections were that it's historically inaccurate, shows some flawed Kazakh characters, contains inappropriate erotic scenes and, to top it all, plagiarizes "The Legend of Narayama" (not true). The director, Ermek Tursunov, refused to make changes causing wrath of the powerful Kazakhfilm bosses. In the middle of the controversy the director was attacked by a bunch of thugs and suffered a concussion. There immediately were speculations that the attack was orchestrated by those who opposed the movie.
But evidently Tursunov wouldn't budge and the film was eventually released and toured the festivals in the form director intended. In one of the interviews he said the only thing he agreed to change was to "move" the area where the story takes place from Kazakhstan to Altay.
Here is that interview (in Russian):
http://www.izvestia.kz/news.php?date=25-06-09&number=5
Another curious bit from the interview:
"Fourteen species of animals were involved in the film, and they were all crazy: yaks, vultures, wolves, rats, ravens ... Not a single normal animal! We had a hard time trying to understand each other":)
It blows my mind that this gem was noticed by the Film Academy but overlooked by most cinephiles, probably a unique case, or the world is upside down now:)
I did a search on Russian sites and found that this film has caused a big controversy in Kazakhstan even before its release, in 2009. It was apparently a high profile project for the reviving Kazakh movie industry, but the bureaucrats from the "Kazakhfilm" (studio that held the rights to the film) did not like it and insisted that the film must be censored and re-edited prior to release. The objections were that it's historically inaccurate, shows some flawed Kazakh characters, contains inappropriate erotic scenes and, to top it all, plagiarizes "The Legend of Narayama" (not true). The director, Ermek Tursunov, refused to make changes causing wrath of the powerful Kazakhfilm bosses. In the middle of the controversy the director was attacked by a bunch of thugs and suffered a concussion. There immediately were speculations that the attack was orchestrated by those who opposed the movie.
But evidently Tursunov wouldn't budge and the film was eventually released and toured the festivals in the form director intended. In one of the interviews he said the only thing he agreed to change was to "move" the area where the story takes place from Kazakhstan to Altay.
Here is that interview (in Russian):
http://www.izvestia.kz/news.php?date=25-06-09&number=5
Another curious bit from the interview:
"Fourteen species of animals were involved in the film, and they were all crazy: yaks, vultures, wolves, rats, ravens ... Not a single normal animal! We had a hard time trying to understand each other":)