KARDIOGRAMMA

12-year-old Djasulan, possessed of a weak heart, is brought by his worried mother from the distant steppes to a sanitarium for sick children. At first lost in the mean-spirited pecking order of the place - it doesn't help that he can't speak Russian, the predominant language of the clinic - the boy soon discovers a hidden well of craftiness within himself and manages to survive the spare isolation (ironically, the beauty of the surroundings seems lost on him). It is only when he develops a severe crush on a kind nurse and discovers her ongoing relationship with a doctor that he feels the need to escape the hostile and oppressive hospital. Working from his own astute script, Omirbaev manages to be both formal, and compassionate, as his plucky young protagonist grows independent without really understanding the value of his strength - or the price he's paid for it. (Dimitri Eipides)