acw202
The film is a pre-Enlightenment allegory, or the description of one thing under the guise of another. Certainly not social utopianism or realism. The young woman tempts the mortal laws by defying custom and the material world. She wants to follow her spirit and a craving for Shakespeare and the world of Orpheus. She is compelled to bring forth the child . . . or the longing of her soul. She suffers various hardships and adventures on her journey, sometimes comically and ineptly aided by her hapless buffoon father and idiot-savant brother. Only when she leaves the earth can the mysterious birth occur in the coupling of the female with the male.
marchrijo
Splendid! In the beginning, I needed some time to accustom to the pictures. Then I realized, that I've been confused by some of the stage-like settings and, of course, by the "unnatural" colours. This is a quite ironic hommage to all the Cinemascope movies of the fifties an sixties, perhaps of some of the obscure ethnographic movies of the former Soviet Union...? Anyway, the camera, and some of the motifs, are producing a real American Western athmosphere. Remember the shooting of the gynaecologist: a Sergio Leone shootout! The visits at the grave: Four Sons of Katie Elder! The village - no contradiction, please! - is in effect a mexican one! But I suppose, that there had never been a Cinemascope movie with such a treasure of excentric, magic and witty ideas! By the way, the speed of action is influences by Emir Kusturica... The girl is really cute.. And a great comedy talent!
maerte
Do not waste your time and money for this movie.What is praised as an intelligent comedy is nothing than a chain of absurdities. Most are so silly that an intelligent person cannot laugh about them. The style reminds of "Agua para chocolate" but in that movie the absurdities and the phantasy elements are presented with humor.The director obviously wanted to create something similar to "The Tin Drum" (the voice of the unborn child, the fishes appearing again and again) but he evidently failed to do so.Some nice pictures of the Central Asian landscape do not compensate for the movie's flaws. (3/10)
snadman
if we'd missed this film, we'd have had to fly to russia or sweden to see it. what an expensive night at the cinema that would prove. (is there a distributor out there reading this? we've got a big *HINT* stick we'd like to hit you with.)we laughed and gaped through the entire film. we saw it at the toronto international film festival. mr khudojnazarov fielded questions after the premier. we asked about the scene with the cow; we believe he called it something akin to "an act of god".please, see it and promote charming, intelligent directors who make charming, intelligent movies.ps, you'll find out what happened to manni after lola ran with her DM.
