Kung Fu Rookie, from Kazakhstan

Timuchin is a prime example of the power of positive thinking. His hard head and fleet fists do not hurt either. Usually, the big city of Almaty eats county bumpkins like him for breakfast, but he is a college grad, who finished his military service and closely studied all of Jackie Chan’s old school HK movies (the good ones). Consequently, the bad guys routinely misunderestimate him in Aman Ergaziyev’s Kung Fu Rookie (a.k.a. Timuchin), which is now available on VOD.

Good natured, lunk-headed Timuchin came to Almaty to apply for the police academy, but his uncle Samat argues he should just find a girl and settle down while he still has time to enjoy starting a family. As fate would have it, Timuchin quickly meets Alua, a civilian academy employee who accepts his paperwork (after a bit of teasing). She also happens to be the daughter of a high-ranking officer and the niece of Samat’s special customer Samal. (Obviously, they are quite compatible—just look at their names.)

Of course, Timuchin won’t back down when Arsen, the neighborhood gang leader acts all thuggish. Timuchin does not look so scary, but he has the moves to teach Arsen and his henchmen a few lessons, but they refuse to learn and keep coming back for more. Eventually, they start coming for Samar and Alua.

Anuar Turizigitov’s screenplay is not exactly brilliantly original, but Ergaziyev’s fight choreography is gleefully inventive, incorporating a host of found objects into the melees. Essentially, this film is an introduction to Timur Baktybayev, to determine whether his martial arts chops and ah-shucks screen presence can carry a film. He passes the test. In fact, he aces it.

There are no special effects tricks, so somehow, Baktybayev must have the same kind of rubber bones and cement head that made Chan so entertaining in his prime. This film has been widely compared to Rumble in the Bronx, with good reason. Indeed, you can see deliberate homages in several fight sequences.

Mariam, on OVID.tv

There is little about Kazakhstan's formal social structures that you might call progressive. The government was one of Putin’s closest allies (at least until his invasion of Ukraine), whereas the Islam practiced on the steppe still maintains traditional gender roles (at least it is still demonstrably more moderate than that practiced in the Middle East). A desperate woman will get little help from either the government or her community when her husband disappears in Sharipa Urazbayeva’s Mariam, which premieres Monday on OVID.tv.

One day, Mariam’s husband left for the market, but he never returned that night. The next day, she files a report with the police, who are coldly professional and a little condescending. Eventually, his horse makes his way back Mariam’s lonely farmhouse, but there are still no signs of him.

As the weeks pass, the owners of the cattle her husband tended transfer them to another tenant farm, thus leaving her with no means to support her three young children. Yet, without a body, the authorities will not issue the death certificate she needs for government benefits. It is a real-life Kafakesque situation that lead thesp Meruert Sabbusinova could certainly relate to, because Mariam’s story is largely based on her own. Initially, Urazbayeva intended to chronicle her plight in a documentary, but it evolved into this dramatic narrative.

There is indeed a big twist towards the end that threatens to complicate all of Mariam’s efforts to build a new life. Somewhat perversely, nearly every description of the film gives it away. Maybe it is pretty easy to guess, but still.

Diamond Cartel: Life is Cheap in Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan was the last republic to declare independence from the bad old Soviet Union. Since then, Communist era strongman Nursultan Nzarbayev has remained the nation’s unchallenged authoritarian ruler. Kazakhstan has remained a staunch ally of the Putin regime and factored prominently in international corruption inquiries (often focusing on the oligarchical petroleum industry). In short, it is perfect but strangely under-utilized setting for an international thriller. Kazakh filmmaker Salamat Mukhammed-Ali certainly knows the territory, but his execution is spotty. However, he still managed to assemble a cast for the ages in Diamond Cartel (trailer here), which opens tomorrow in Los Angeles.

Strictly speaking, there is no diamond cartel in Mukhmmed-Ali’s film, but whatever. Hong Kong Triad boss Mr. Luo has agreed to sell the Star of the East diamond to Mussa, the flamboyant kingpin of the Kazakh underworld, but their core businesses are the traditional vices. Unfortunately for Mussa, the transaction is interrupted by a hit squad loyal to his rival, Khazar. The diamond and the suitcase full of cash will become a slippery Macguffin, changing hands multiple times.

For a good portion of the film, they will be in the possession of Aliya, a former dealer in Mussa’s casino, who opted for life as one of Khazar assassins when her previous boss tried to force her to become his concubine (to put it politely). Having recently been reunited with Ruslan, the naïve love of her life, Aliya decides to make a run for it with the guy and the loot. If they can make it out of Kazakhstan, they might be able to start a new life, but that will be a big “if,” judging from the in media res opening.

Cartel holds many distinctions, but it will probably get the most attention for being Peter O’Toole’s final film. The machine gun-wielding Tugboat is a pretty crazy note for him to go out on, but it is a real shame the film is so conspicuously dubbed, robbing us of his final arch line readings.

As if that were not enough, Cartel also features Armand Assante hamming it up as Mussa, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa playing it cool as Khazar, Michael Madsen quickly getting killed in the ill-fated diamond transaction, Bolo Yeung still looking fierce and totally cut as Mussa’s henchman Bulo, and Don “The Dragon” Wilson keeping it real as Mr. Luo. The parade of cult-action stars is nostalgic fun, but the bulk of the film is carried by Karlygash Mukhamedzhanova and Alexey Frandetti as Aliya and Ruslan. She could be a reasonably intense and seductive femme fatale/action figure in a different context, but he is essentially a wall flower carried along for the ride. Fortunately, Assante also gets a whole lot of screen time, because who is going to stop him—and why would they want to?

The Kazakhstan backdrops are genuinely striking, often in an ominously cinematic way. Obviously, there are a lot of action chops assembled here, notably including Murat Bissenbin as Aliya’s assassination instructor, but the fight scenes and shootouts are mostly just okay and the flashbacks to Aliyan and Ruslan as children are a grave mistake. Some of us will want to see Diamond Cartel just so we can say with certainty that it exists, but it is a rocky road—even if it is one of the priciest Kazakh domestic productions—reportedly costing something in the high six-figure neighborhood, mind you. It is what it is and it opens tomorrow (3/24) in Los Angeles, at the Arena Cinema.

Submitted by Kazakhstan: Amanat

Without question, one of the most dangerous professions in the former Soviet Captive Nations was that of historian. Remembering was risky in general and downright perilous in the case of people and events the Party wanted forgotten. Two generations of Kazakh historians will seek the truth about Kenesary Khan, the last Kazakh Khan, descended from Genghis himself, but both will run into bureaucratic stonewalling and secret police intimidation in Satybaldy Narymbetov’s Amanat (trailer here), which has been official submitted by Kazakhstan as their foreign language Academy Award contender.

The nine-film shortlist is due imminently from the Academy’s foreign language division, which is unfortunately highly likely to overlook Amanat (a Kazakh word for cultural heritage) in favor of films with vocal champions, such as the laughably pretentious Neruda. That is a shame, because Amanat is a smart, historically-aware film in the tradition of the Andrzej Wajda’s Man of Marble and Katyn. Where Neruda knowingly and deliberately plays it fast-and-lose with the truth for the sake of scoring propaganda points, Amanat indicts the bowdlerization of the historical record to serve the ruling authorities.

Like his ancestor, Kenesary Khan was a comparatively progressive figure, especially compared to the Czarist Russia. Eventually, he led a revolt against the Czar’s imperialist encroachment that was ultimately crushed by the Russian Army. Having won the war, the Czars libeled Khan a ruthless savage in their history books—and the Soviets continued the tradition. The open-minded wunderkind historian Ermukhan Bekmakhanov’s scholarship painted a very different picture, but it quickly led him afoul of the Stalinist thought police.

Just like his subject, the record of Bekmakhanov and his published papers was suppressed until the historian was posthumously rehabilitated under Khrushchev. However, no such revisionism was extended to Kenesary Khan. At this point, the brilliant but scuffling journalist Ramazan Duman starts investigating the Bekmakhanov Affair, tracking down his censored papers and befriending his widow, Khalima. Unbeknownst to Duman, Buchin, the very same KGB agent that hounded Bekmakhanov, starts assembling a dossier on him. Yet even the rather naïve Duman understands 1968 is not a great year for truth-telling behind the Iron Curtain.

Narymbetov dexterously juggles three distinct timelines, following Kenesary Khan as he prepares for his ill-fated final battle, Bekmakhanov as guilelessly falls victim to a Stalinist purge, and Duman as he risks the same fate. It gives the film a massively tragic sweep and a sense of the ironic forces compelling history to repeat itself. Frankly, this is exactly the sort of film the Academy section voters appreciate, but they will need confidence in their judgment to opt for such a dark horse, which would be out of character.

Regardless, the rest of us civilians can appreciate Amanat as the fine film it is, if and when it finds wider festival screenings and distribution in the West. It is a big picture kind of film, but it still features a number of first-rate performances, most definitely including the radiant yet heart-rending Karlygash Muhamedzhanova as Khalima Bekmakhanova. Berik Aitzhanov is so tragically dignified as Ermukhan it practically hurts to watch him, but he also develops some rather sweet and lovely chemistry with Muhamedzhanova. Sanzhar Madiev’s Kenesary Khan is more of symbol than a flesh-and-blood character, but he certainly looks the part donning the armor. However, Aziz Beishenaliev might just make the year’s best villain as the steely cool, game-playing Buchin.

Amanat is an ambitious period production, encompassing the 1840s, the late 1940s into the early 1950s, and 1968, but it is also an uncomfortably timely film. It really deserves to find a wide audience both in the West and within Kazakhstan. It would also be nice if it reached viewers in Russia, but that is probably asking too much. Hopefully, the Palm Springs International film fest will screen it, since the foreign language submissions are its specialty. Very highly recommended, Amanat deserves a spot on the shortlist, which might already be out by the time you read these words.