★★★★☆ A beautiful yet also vehemently hostile Darwinian drama set within the confines of a rural Kazakh school, Emire Baigazin's Harmony Lessons (2013) is an austere and haunting tale of childhood hierarchy and the psychological suffocation of a world governed by violence. We're first introduced to 13-year-old Aslan (Timur Aidarbekov) as he's seen merrily chasing a sheep through the snowy yard of his grandmother's countryside abode. It's a wonderful scene full of tenderness that suddenly takes a dramatic turn when Aslan, without even flinching, captures the ewe, hog-ties its legs and then proceeds to slit its throat.
Skinning the animal before methodically removing its organs and meat, it's clear that violence is an integral part of life in this quaint, bucolic region. At school, Aslan isn't quite so empowered, and after being humiliated during a medical examination, he finds himself ostracised by his classmates. The school represents its own microcosm of society,...
Skinning the animal before methodically removing its organs and meat, it's clear that violence is an integral part of life in this quaint, bucolic region. At school, Aslan isn't quite so empowered, and after being humiliated during a medical examination, he finds himself ostracised by his classmates. The school represents its own microcosm of society,...
- 10/9/2013
- by CineVue UK
- CineVue
A village school and the surrounding area in rural Kazakhstan is the backdrop for the brutal Darwinism, of both the social variety and that found in nature, depicted in Emir Baigazin's astonishing debut feature Harmony Lessons, whose extraordinary accomplishments in visual, thematic, and psychological terms belie the fact that this is his first feature. Baigazin has created a viscerally potent portrait of the concentric cycles of cruelty, violence, and ultimately murder that characterize the lives of everyone in the harsh, economically depressed village of his film's setting.Harmony Lessons focuses on Aslan (Timur Aidarbekov), a 13-year old boy who lives with his grandmother in a farmhouse on the steppes. We are introduced to Aslan in a deceptively humorous way: he is chasing a sheep in the...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 4/22/2013
- Screen Anarchy
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.