“A Darkish, Darkish Man” is about in a stretch of Kazakhstan the place few individuals appear to dwell, but corruption pervades each nook.
When this police procedural, directed by Adilkhan Yerzhanov (“Yellow Cat”), premiered in 2019, it was a daily function movie. Its distributor has carved it into three episodes for streaming functions. That’s unlucky, as a result of its pacing and visible model — a lot of the motion unfolds in lengthy shot — are clearly designed for big-screen immersion.
For its first third, “A Darkish, Darkish Man” points grim revelations with breathtaking rapidity. Poukuar (Teoman Khos), a gullible native, is coerced by a mysterious man into offering proof that might be used to border him for the rape and homicide of an orphan boy. (We later be taught that the boy is the fourth such sufferer.) Bekzat (Daniyar Alshinov), the detective antihero, arrives on the scene to research what now seems to be like an open-and-shut case.
On this district, suspects tend to be discovered lifeless earlier than trials. Bekzat can’t stage Poukuar’s suicide so simply, although, after a journalist, Ariana (Dinara Baktybayeva), turns as much as accompany Bekzat on the investigation. She may even push him to pursue the lurking serial killer in earnest.
The thriller facet is dealt with obliquely. The movie is extra of a temper piece, and far of its pitch-black humor derives from the distinction between the barren panorama and the sheer variety of horrors it comprises. (When Bekzat and Ariana arrive in a village, an outdated girl greets him: “You killed my son. Two years in the past. Throughout questioning.”) Solely the closing moments appear much less nervy.
A Darkish, Darkish Man
Not rated. In Kazakh and Russian, with subtitles. Working time: 2 hours 10 minutes. Watch on MHz Selection.
