Ulzhan starts off with a mysterious character doing bizarre things. His actions are intriguing because we want to know why he's doing everything. He is French, but is in Kazakhstan heading further east, where he meets a word-seller and an Asian French teacher. He seems not to care about anything: getting arrested, losing his passport, dancing women. He is fueled by guilt and remorse and a lack of rational thought. The story is unique and gripping from the start, and as reasons are gradually revealed, we are drawn even deeper into the mystery. The imagery and cinematography are both amazing. The offbeat characters are brought to life by acting that is able to make them seem real and well-defined. The dialogue, on the other hand, is not so great. But the finale hit me like a pile of bricks; the images and the symbolism were just so powerful and had such an effect on me.The music was usually well-utilized, but sometimes got a bit overpowering. The emotional story is only a small snapshot of the main character's past. The side characters are unfortunately never really fleshed out, and some subplots seemed like they were last-minute additions to repeat his theme. It seemed a bit heavy-handed in getting across the message. Also, there were some shots of archival nuclear footage that was really weird. Still, I enjoyed the movie a lot and suggest it if you like movies that engage your curiosity and take place in beautiful landscapes.
IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt1016033/