There are not too many marriageable girls left on the Kazakh steppe, so when Asa returns from his naval service he’s determined to win Tulpan for his wife. He brandishes gifts and regales her stony parents with octopus anecdotes. Unfortunately, Tulpan rejects him (his ears are too big). Asa’s hopes of herding his own sheep evaporate with his dreams of marriage. A simple story, told with documentary-style immediacy, Tulpan is a technical triumph. The restless camerawork flings us nose-to-nose with irritable camels; it traces every nuance of tension between the family in the womb-like space of their yurt. It’s funny and anarchic and poignant and profound.
12A (100min)