Three Brothers

Dubbed the first film of perestroika, Aprymov's debut The Last Stop heralded a renaissance in Kazakh cinema. Three Brothers again deals with collisions and thresholds, between tradition and 'modernisation', wishful thinking and harsh reality, childhood and the trials of the adult world. In a faded settlment on the vast, bleakly beautiful steppe, a group of boys idle away a hazy summer in pranks, play and the throes of adolescent yearning. Fired up by the tales of an elderly station hand, of a mountain lake where local airbase officers indulge some appealing off-duty pursuits, the boys resolve to pay a visit. However, military manoeuvres seem destined to thwart them. This timeless if uneven rites of passage parable would have benefited from a greater sense of community, but it's made poignant by the spirited performances. An all-too-rare encounter with the ways and wonders of this newly independent but ancient nation and its extraordinary landscape.