Abdulladzhan, or Dedicated to Steven Spielberg
89 mins
Considering that Musakov’s Abdulladzhan (1991) was dedicated to Steven Spielberg, we might suggest that these four boys embody nothing more complicated than a conflict of youthful innocence with some ominous threat—the basic workings of E.T. (1982) or War of the Worlds (2005), say. That threat, however, is best understood not through vague nationalism or warmed-over socialism, but through the other reference-point of Abdulladzhan—Tarkovskii’s Stalker (1980). Musakov leaves his boys in a simplified radiance so bright and so overexposed that it no longer looks like the skies of sunny Tashkent, but a disturbing, borderless luminosity to match the flat tonal range of Stalker’s “Zone.” Our Uzbek boys are nowhere in particular; this is a broader domain than anything international.
Rihsivoy Mukhamedzhanov
Screenplay
A. Shkarin
Visual Effects Camera
Mirkhalil Makhmudov
Original Music Composer
D. Zhemchugova
Costume Design
Vyacheslav Shin
Sound Director
A. Shaymardanov
Assistant Director
M. Sultankhodzhaev
Assistant Director
N. Mamutov
Administration
Roziya Mergenbaeva
Script Editor
Farhad Abdusaidov
Production Manager
Galina Geydelbakh
Makeup Designer
T. Boltobaev
Administration
R. Rasulov
VFX Artist
Ulmaskhon Temirova
Lead Editor
Dmitriy Sideras
VFX Artist
Boris Vasilenko
Visual Effects Camera
Khamza Kadzhikulov
Production Design
Muzallar Zakirov
Camera Operator
Mutobar Asadullaeva
Assistant Editor
Aleksandr Travitskiy
Still Photographer
S. Khudaiberdyev
Thanks
Talgat Mansurov
Director of Photography