Bakyt (2017)
★½ — Bakyt (2017)
Bakyt is a short film (running just fourteen minutes) from Kyrgyz director Meerim Dogdurbekova, a modest production rooted in the rural landscapes and equestrian culture of the Kyrgyz Republic. Horse racing, and the bond between rider and animal, is deeply embedded in Kyrgyz tradition, and the film draws on that cultural inheritance rather than any specific source material. Short filmmaking has long served as a proving ground for emerging Central Asian directors working outside the major co-production networks, and Dogdurbekova's work here sits firmly in that context, made on what appears to be a very limited independent budget with a cast of largely non-professional local actors.
A-Z World Movie Tour Kyrgyzstan FIRST REVIEW ON LETTERBOXD I really enjoyed this short. The camera quality is absolutely amazing. The vistas and scenery are breathtaking. Vast plains, snow-capped mountains and contrasting colours. The story itself isn't bad. A boy has a 10 year old horse he cares for. He rides it around (without saddle by the way which is ballsy as hell). He gets into mischief at school with one of the other boys and challenges him to a horse race. Bakyt's horse is stolen that night. Then... all of a sudden... it swims hole across the lake without any explanation at all and then we see the boy riding it again. (Same footage as last time) Weird ending to a lacklustre short. Visually stunning but overall it's bad.
Rating: ★½ | Year: 2017 | Watched: 2025-06-28
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