Tenderness

Part of the Uzbeckistan Film Festival at the Phoenix last weekend:

My decision to attend some of the features at the Phoenix’s Uzbeckistan film festival last weekend was made with some hesitation. I seriously doubted if I would be interested, and was looking on the experience as more of a learning curve than an enjoyable outing. I must remember to leave my prejudices at home next time.
Rarely have a seen a film that managed to encapsulate such a feel of lazy compassion as E. Ishmukhamedov’s Tenderness. An adolescent floats down a river on a tyre tube and stops to gaze at a beautiful young woman, who joins him. Later, she and her friends stop off at a family home and the narrative shifts to the youngest of that household, and we follow her through from childhood to mundane adult existence. Eventually the relationships between the characters go full circle as mutual acquaintances finally meet up with each other, and verbal narrative takes the place of physical action.
Beautifully shot and movingly executed this was a real gem of a picture – there are other movies with more pleasing narrative structures or better resolutions, but this film managed to perfectly capture a time and place with a relaxed ease that everyone could relate to, regardless of their cultural background.
Sadly the Uzbeckistan festival only spanned the one weekend, but if other countries have film archives with only half this charm then hopefully the Phoenix will be brave enough to stage a similar festival in the not too distant future.

Rowan Morrison