Schizo. This appears to be the first major picture out of Kahzikstan and what an impressive, stunning debut of a film. Schizo is the story of a 15 year old boy everyone thinks is schizophrenic. He's kicked out of school for fighting, but instantly the viewer will recognize this young man as the sanest, most responsible person in the film. He's hired by his mother's boyfriend to recruit fighters for illegal bare-knuckle fights. Shortly into his new career, a young dying fighter asks the boy to bring his winnings to his girlfriend and his son. Immediately Schizo develops a sense of responsibility for this little family and does whatever he can to ensure their well being. Things turn nasty, but a pervading sense of hope seems to light Schizo's eyes and one never questions his judgment and he stays true to some code of honor that no one else seems to have in this tale. It's a powerful, beautiful story with a sensational film debut from Oldzhas Nusupbayev. Throughout the film I kept wondering "where did they FIND this kid?" - and I was startled to learn he had never before acted, had no family and was actually growing up in an orphanage and discovered there. His performance is the lynchpin on which the entire film is hinged. Writer/Director Guka Omarova's location scenes are visually strong, conveying a sort of resigned hopelessness and presenting a post-Soviet Kahzikstan landscape that feels like a world that had been stripmined for all its worth and then merely abandoned. Equally as impressive as this landscape are the wildly diverse and unforgettable faces of the multi-ethnic populations of this country. Olga Landina plays the love interest and she is like a young, vibrant, Eastern bloc Rebecca Demornay. Hot. Schizo is a real find!

If you are sitting at home and thinking: "you know, I would like to see a film dealing with life in present day Kazakhstan. Something with a fairly clean, simple plot, good direction, nice visuals, and a storyline that takes its time", then I would highly recommend this film.It should be noted that this is a slow film. There is nothing really that happens in the film that is surprising if you are somewhat aware of the living conditions in central asia. I would say that the film's best feature is that is seems to do a pretty good job of giving the viewer an idea of what life is like in rural Kazakhstan.

Most of the landscape is bleak and desolate which means the acting and story must carry the film, they do. This movie is far removed from the typical big budget cotton candy dumbed-down Hollywood syrup. I would categorize it as basically a humanistic survival story set in the rural outback. The emotions are as sparse as the back drop and yet still quite beguiling. Some of the fights seemed a little unrealistic, however, it does not detract too much from the movie's overall believable tone. Also it was not a predicable film. At times you feel that Schizo may be mentally impaired, by his lack of communication, yet his demeanor is fitting to his environment and circumstances.

"Schizo (Shiza)" is a wonderful demonstration of how new world cinema can take old stories that we've seen in the movies before and make them fresh in a new context.We've all seen the movie about the poor, naive kid in way over his head with the local gangsters, who provide the only jobs in the neighborhood, then he starts feeling sorry for his boss's victims and tries to do the right thing for the survivors.Debut director and co-writer Gulshat Omarova takes a unique approach through several elements.First is the striking views of Kazakhstan in what has to be some of the bleakest locales of economic hopelessness and anarchy since the "Mad Max" movies, and this isn't post-apocalyptic science fiction.Second is the striking casting of first-time or amateur actors with simply marvelous faces and on screen presence, particularly the young man playing the titularly nicknamed character. I'm sure U.S. audiences are missing some of the inter-ethnic tensions that can only be guessed as the actors have a variety of racial features, from Russian to Central and East Asian to Middle Eastern, let alone their accents or use of language.Also unique is how the story has the tenderness of Truffaut's "The Four Hundred Blows" in seeing how an out of kilter kid gets treated harshly in this environment, from lousy schools to incompetent doctors, and has to grow up too fast.While the film is excellent at demonstrating how raw masculinity and cruelty thrives in this brutal atmosphere, it is beautiful at showing the attraction of domesticity as women have appeal beyond (though of course including) sex. It manages to make unlikely relationships touching and credible as humans strive to create family out of whatever fractured groupings are available to them. It reinvents the love story.