5/5 Beautiful
  by Amy Kosari (Ellsworth, WI USA)
This is a beautiful film, wonderfully acted. Will the young man give up his hopes, abandoning his native land for the wide world ("By the waters of Babylon, we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion")? We watch him mature as the story develops, exchanging youthful fancies for hope and resolve and love of the country as it is. The perfect expressiveness of the actors faces is enough to set this movie apart. Visually this movie reminds me of one of Botticelli's late and underappreciated paintings, sheer expression set against austere landscapes. It's filled with humor (the mother chasing down the young men with her shovel)... and the songs, so beautiful and vital. The film itself reminds me of a song somehow, proving that "the roads of Zion are within the heart."

5/5 When Shepherds Dream
  by Billy Bardo (Omphalos, USA)
It has been quite a while since a film affected me as powerfully as Tulpan. It sort of seeps under your skin and makes you reflect about it, like chewing cud, or something. It is extremely naturalistic, with a rich density whose lyrical simplicity is drawn out through many special little moments and situations. These little scenes were like pearls on a string. Each one reveals so much about the character of the individuals involved, and the relationships between them. In the end, the sense of the ties that bind, and the sense of place and the strength of family life trump wanderlust. It is difficult to speak about this film in generalities. It would be easy to say it is about a young man in a lonely place who is dreaming of getting a beautiful wife, and a flock of sheep of his own, and his own yurt, and his own children--but that is only part of what it is about. Other than a few technological tools of the 21 century such as a portable radio and a tractor, the pattern of life is rooted in the situations of the shepherds of the steppes of central Asia since the dawn of animal husbandry. You could show this film to a herdsman from 4000 years ago and they would probably have only a few questions. But the film is so much more than what you can say about the engine that drives the action forward. It's about relationships in a family, it's about quiet desperation, its about death and birth and sickness and hope. And these things are drawn out with a quiet sublimity, as if not much effort or contrivance went into them. How does this happen? I'm not sure you can write these kinds of things in a script. It's too psychologicaly honest and true--it's too emotionally complex. There are just so many choice moments. "Man, I told you this is no cattle wagon!"

Take the father, who when we first see him, is attempting to broker a marriage for his brother-in-law--at first, he doesn't come across as much of a sympathetic fellow--but then, gradually, you see the different dimensions of his character emerge in different situations, and you see the things that are worrying him--frustrating him, and interfering with his needs, and he becomes an understandable and a very sympathetic figure. You understand what motivates him--and you begin to appreciate him. This is true for every character in the film. Even the Veterinarian, who has only a few lines, is a fascinating and complex figure. A film like this demonstrates the ability of film to get at the most difficult human moments that you can capture and communicate to others. It is simply a tremendous achievement. I hope these guys do more projects such as this.

4/5 Low-key, Perceptive, Sometimes Humorous Look at Life on the Kazakh Steppe.
  by mirasreviews (McLean, VA USA)
Russian director Sergey Dvortsevoy finds touching and absurd facets of the human experience in an unexpected place in "Tulpan", one young man's frustrating season on the Kazakh steppe. Asa (Askhat Kuchinchirekov) has moved in with his sister Samal's (Samal Yeslyamora) family after a tour in the Russian Navy. Samal, her husband Ondas (Ondasym Besikbasov), and their three children are sheep farmers who live in a yurt on the steppe. Asa dreams of being a sheep farmer too, with a white yurt, a television, and solar-powered electricity. But first he must find a wife. The only eligible woman on the steppe is Tulpan, and she doesn't like him.

I was wary that "Tulpan" might condescend to people who live pre-modern lifestyles. I was relieved that it doesn't. We see the lure of city life for people who live on the steppe, but Asa, who has experience of the modern world, just wants to be a herdsman, woo Tulpan, and gain the respect of Ondas. He's an earnest, nice guy. He seems to have attainable goals. But Tulpan's rejection throws a monkey wrench into his plans. Tulpan, the title character, plays only a small role in the film. Asa's difficulties finding a bride keep him with his sister's family a while longer, which creates conflict and opportunity for us to observe them.

While there is nothing patronizing about "Tulpan"'s treatment of these people who live a simple life in the middle of nowhere, without electricity or running water, I got the impression that the film's purpose is partly to observe their way of life. The steppe is a remarkable landscape for its flatness and dust storms. The yurts, sheep, camels, and people are striking against such barrenness. We can't help laugh at the absurdity of their situation sometimes, but it's a gentle absurdity, and "Tulpan" laughs with its characters, certainly not at them. The viewer can easily slip into their skin. In Kazakh with optional English subtitles. The only bonus feature on the Zeitgeist 2009 disc is a theatrical trailer.

5/5 Spectacular
  by Daniel G. Lebryk
Sparse, dry, bleak, and alien, describes the location for this film. The words also describe the way Tulpan was filmed - long slow deliberate shots. The film is about a land and people completely foreign from any experience we could even imagine in North America, the steppes of Kazakhstan. The contrast to this harsh environment is a film about Asa who dreams of a different life; his sister Samal who dreams of moving to a different place; and her husband the hard working realist. How these people eek out a life in that arid desolate land is nothing short of incredible.

The film opens with the sounds of fabric blowing in the wind, a heard of camels moves off camera, the dusts settles and the barren landscape is revealed; in the foreground, a post-apocalypse tractor that looks straight out of Road Warrior, and a Yurt in the background. The film cuts to inside of the Yurt. Asa is trying to convince Tulpan's parents that he is the right husband for their daughter. He's supported by his friend, Boni (Mr. Gold Teeth with the big smile), and his brother in law Ondas. The story unfolds very slowly, much like life in this arid land. Asa is an immature dreamer faced with the difficulties of living with his sister, her three children, and her husband. Odan the husband is a sheep farmer faced with the harsh reality of still born sheep. Samal, the sister, wife, and mother wants to move to another location; but is always happy, always caring for those around her. I particularly loved Samal's 2 year old son - there is something universal about children getting in the way and being adorable.

Tulpan reminds me of Himalaya, both films show an incredibly difficult life in an area we can never imagine. Both feel a bit like documentaries, but they are works of fiction and acted. Himilaya has a more exciting back story, but both films are stark. I was also struck by the length of time between cuts, Tulpan is not choreographed as well (the camera movement in Tulpan not as deliberate and poetic), but does have a similar slow long cut rhythm like, The Country Teacher. It is the polar opposite of the funny but fake Borat.

The film has a dry gritty feel to it. I could almost taste the sand in my mouth, feel the cold, and smell the death of the animals. The director has done a remarkable job at conveying those feelings. And yet there was a warmth to the film, Asa's innocence, Samal's caring, and Odan's tough love. Technically the film was done very well for what appears to be a single camera film. Shots are reasonably in focus, exposure in horribly difficult situations is excellent, the ambient sound of wind and animals is well recorded, and the pacing is as expected, very slow. Overall, a wonderful accomplishment.

The film is not rated. Younger viewers could possibly watch this film. There is no violence. However, this is a movie about real life of a sheep herder; life on a farm can be a bit brutal at times. Several lambs are shown still born and dead. There is a fairly graphic birthing of a lamb. And sheep are shown copulating. Nothing in the world unnatural about any of these acts, parents just might like to know. Boni has pictures of naked women decorating his tractor and there is a brief shot of a Playboyesque picture full screen. I don't exactly recall stong language in the subtitles, but there might have been a little bit. Overall, this is a film that a mature young adult would be able to watch.

The DVD is as sparse as the landscape; it is presented with the movie and the trailer. There are no bonus features. The film is presented in Russian or the nomadic language they speak, with English subtitles. Here is a film where I would have liked to know a bit more about the making of and the actors in this film. That unfortunate time where we get hours of garbage about the Wedding Crashers on a DVD, but when it would be useful there's nothing.

To give the film a bit of context, I entered Betpak-Dala Steppe (the filming location) into google maps. Looking at the satellite view it is clear that this area is horribly desolate, there is nothing but flat land for hundreds of miles. The nearest road appears to be 50 to 100 miles away. The people of this film are truly nomads.

I loved this film. It is a beautifully made and beautifully acted movie. The pace is slow, and the story is very simple. It is a lovely hour and forty minutes.


5/5 Quietly powerful, starkly beautiful and utterly unique
  by RMurray847 (Albuquerque, NM United States)
I was very fortunate to be able to see TULPAN at a small movie theatre (rather than DVD) so that I could enjoy it with a few dozen other folks. But it will play just as well on a wide-screen TV (the bigger the better, though)...because it is in many ways a travelogue. A skewed, touching and somewhat haunting one...taking you to a place you know you don't want to go. Seeing it with a group, I felt as though we were on some kind of slow moving tour bus, allowing us to visit the stark land of Kazakhstan. If you saw it alone, no doubt you'd feel like a lone traveler, beating up your car's suspension and working hard to keep your car on track in the wind. TULPAN is the most tiny and intimate of films...yet has almost deliriously expansive panoramas of a land that is as forbidding as any depicted on screen.

Young Asa has recently returned home from his service in the Navy. He comes from a family of hard-scrabble sheep herders on the Steppes of Kazakhstan. He is a vibrant, easy-going and slightly dimwitted young man. His burning desire is to have his own herd, but this will not be granted to him until he marries. There is pretty much only one eligible young lady in his sparsely populated corner of the world, and even though he has never even seen this girl (named Tulpan), because she holds the key to his happiness, he feels he is in love with her. She declines his offer, ostensibly because she doesn't like his big ears. The real reason may be that she wants a life in the city, perhaps with an education. Asa loves the harsh land that has been his only home, and he yearns to own his own way there. You have no doubt that he would treat this girl well and give her a "traditionally happy" life...because he clearly has no malicious bone in his body.

Asa is undaunted in his efforts. While he schemes to win Tulpan's agreement, he lives with his sister and her family, which includes 3 children and an older, grumpy husband. Asa tries to help out on the farm, but he's so eager to please, he can't help but trip over his own feet, so to speak. He fails to endear himself to his brother-in-law, who also urgently wants Asa out of the house.

And that's about it for the plot. I won't kid you; TULPAN is a slow moving film. Very little that we would think of as earth-shattering happens. Yet the movie accomplishes two very rare things, and thus it continues to resonate with me more than a month after I saw it.

First, Asa and his family feel 100% real. They feel NOTHING like most people you and I are ever likely to know...but we immediately understand and empathize with all of them. Whether it's the dutiful sister & wife, who wants only harmony in her family, and clearly loves all the people in her life with great intensity or the pre-teen daughter whose only distraction is to sing to herself...constantly and loudly. Asa himself is all heart and little brain...yet you'd be hard-pressed to find a more decent, open & sincere a person. And none of them feel like actors (they aren't pros)...we actually feel like we're spending time living with these folks. Seeing and EXPERIENCING their everyday lives of tending to their yurt and their sheep.

Second, and perhaps most stunningly, we get a true sense of PLACE. The cinematography is simple yet stunning. Kazakhstan, to my eyes, is a stark place with little obvious beauty. But we get to glimpse it through Asa's eyes from time to time, and are able to see how HOME can be a beautiful place to the person who feels at home there...not matter what everyone else sees and feels. And there are long, lingering shots of the land and the people and animals on it. One stunning scene I will try to describe: the shot involves a still camera, which at first shows us the side of a building, some fencing and mostly a path leading out onto the bleak steppes (the land looks like you'd imagine dust-bowl America to have looked). We hear sounds of approaching animals. Sure enough, sheep move into the picture and off into the distance, followed by dogs, donkeys, men, children, poultry and so on. The camera never moves, and nothing really happens except that the various "life forms" pass by us. Yet we get such a clear understanding of their relationships and importance to each other.

TULPAN has moments of GREAT humor (one scene involving a camel is particularly hilarious) and sometimes touching drama (you've never thought the birth of a lamb could be so dramatic). But I'll say again...it isn't a story where the traditional idea of a plot is all that important. Yes, things happen to Asa, and the issue of Tulpan is resolved. But the real pleasures of TULPAN will come if you simply allow yourself to be immersed in the life the film wants to show you. It's a harsh and alien life...but if ever a movie showed an American audience how much more ALIKE we all are than DIFFERENT...TULPAN is it.

When I started to write this review, I was thinking 4-stars. But as I wrote and remembered...I understood that for me, this film really is 5-stars. Perhaps the most quiet, understated 5-star film I've ever reviewed...but it is a movie that I think will always come back to me over the years as being not quite like anything else I've ever seen.