Steppenwolf (Original title: Dala qasqiri) (2024) Arrow Player Review
Steppenwolf (Original title: Dala qasqiri) (2024) Arrow Player Review
A brutal story of an unlikely duo who will stop at nothing to find what they are looking for, Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s award-winning film STEPPENWOLF is “a nihilistic, hyper-violent redemption tale filled with social commentary” (Molly Henery, The Blogging Banshee) and “a must-see for fans of ultra-violent, vicious and unforgiving revenge films” (Gary Gamble, Moviehooker).
Tamara (Anna Starchenko), a young lady consumed by trauma, searches for her missing son, Timka, in a small town dominated by riots and violence. In a desperate attempt to get him back, she teams up with an amoral former police investigator (Berik Aitzhanov) whose methods prove to be frequently cruel and sadistic. Quietly determined, Tamara decides to complete the mission with the nihilistic detective, no matter the cost, as the pair embark on a bloody and bullet-riddled road trip in their combined search for salvation.
Winner of the Golden Raven Grand Prix at the 2024 Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival and the Outstanding Performance Award for both Anna Starchenko and Berik Aitzhanov at the 2024 Fantasia Film Festival, Steppenwolf is the latest film from acclaimed director Adilkhan Yerzhanov (Cannes-selected THE GENTLE INDIFFERENCE OF THE WORLD and Venice-selected GOLIATH) and Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky (LEVIATHAN).
With its arresting cinematography and a terrific retro synth score writer/director Adilkhan Yerzhanov’s STEPPENWOLF is both a feast for one’s visual and aural senses. With its rough and ready apocalyptic setting reminiscent of George Miller’s MAD MAX movies and a couple of expertly executed nods to John Ford’s THE SEARCHERS – check out the camera shot where the rugged outdoors is seen framed through a door – this is a confident and assured piece of filmmaking. However, I could not say that I warmed to it regardless of how faultless the acting is or how top drawer its production design is.
Its slow paced and often repetitive and consequently STEPPENWOLF feels like it is going nowhere. Around half-an-hour in I found my attention wandering. There was nothing story-wise to anchor my interest and I found the characters hard to warm to and therefore care about. Reviews often mention the violence and how brutal it is, I saw nothing here I would consider shocking, in fact I found the violence very run-of-the-mill.
