Survival Isn’t Always About Redemption

Read Time:5 Minute, 21 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Steppenwolf [Limited Edition]
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Genre: Mystery, Thriller
Year Released: 2024, Arrow Video 2025
Runtime: 1h 42m
Director(s): Adilkhan Yerzhanov
Writer(s): Adilkhan Yerzhanov
Cast: Berik Aytzhanov, Anna Starchenko, Azamat Nigmanov, Kuantay Abdimadi
Where to Watch: available May 27, 2025, pre-order your copy here: www.arrowvideo.com, www.mvdshop.com, or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: Chaos isn’t always a flaw in storytelling—it can be a calculated force to reflect something bigger than character arcs or plotlines. This film embraces that disorder and makes it the foundation of its core. A story of survival set in a broken landscape, where logic has long since vanished and morality is treated like a luxury, not a necessity. What begins as a search for a missing child quickly spirals into a confrontation with the ugliest corners of human behavior, framed by a world where violence is routine and compassion barely flickers.

From the start, the audience is hurled into a situation that feels like it’s already mid-collapse. There is no context, no easing in. The first location serves not as a safe zone but as a combat zone: bullets, confusion, bodies. This immediate shock defines the film’s rhythm: abrupt, abrasive, and unapologetically unanchored from traditional storytelling. And it works—if the goal is to force viewers to feel as disoriented as the characters.

The story's heart rests with two central figures, though “heart” might be a misleading term in this particular world. Tamara is introduced not as a hero, but as someone deeply damaged—quiet, hesitant, and driven by a purpose she can barely articulate. Her search for her son seems to be the only tether keeping her from unraveling completely. Then there’s Brajyuk, a man whose moral code, if it ever existed, has disintegrated. He isn’t a villain in the traditional sense, but he’s certainly not on the same team. Their dynamic is built on proximity and timing, not understanding.

There’s something uniquely disturbing about how their relationship plays out. He offers to help, but it’s clearly on his terms. His brand of help includes threats, manipulation, and at times, physical abuse. Tamara doesn’t resist—not because she trusts him, but because she doesn’t know how to fight back anymore. It portrays trauma that refuses to soften for the audience. There are no big emotional speeches, no cathartic breakthroughs—just a woman walking through hell with someone who might be worse than what she's running from.

Anna Starchenko delivers a performance that leans into stillness and discomfort. Her presence is less about commanding the screen and more about surviving it. Berik Aitzhanov’s portrayal of Brajyuk is all sharp edges and menace. He’s not charismatic or likable, and the film never pretends he might be.

Genre-wise, the movie picks and chooses what it needs. Under the bleakness are hints of dystopian thriller, post-war drama, and dark comedy. But it doesn’t commit to any category. That shape-shifting quality is both a strength and a challenge. On the one hand, it avoids clichés. On the other hand, it risks alienating viewers who crave narrative clarity or tonal consistency.

Ambiguity drives the storytelling, almost to a fault. Important details about the conflict, the setting, or the characters’ pasts are vague. That might be a thematic decision, emphasizing how fractured and unknowable the world has become. Still, a few more details could have gone a long way in helping the audience connect.

Ultimately, the film doesn’t build to a climax so much as it keeps pushing the same question: What do people become when order disappears? The disappearance of a child becomes a symbol of lost innocence in a place where no one is innocent anymore. It’s less about hope and more about survival—not triumphant survival, just existence.

This film is worth watching for viewers open to a fragmented, bleak, and occasionally absurd journey. It is not for comfort or closure but for the rare experience of seeing a story that commits fully to its unsettling vision without apology or compromise.

Bonus Materials:
LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS
High-Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentations of Steppenwolf and Goliath
Original lossless DTS HD-MA 5.1 surround audio for both films
English subtitles for both films
Optional Spanish subtitles are available for Steppenwolf only
Brand new audio commentary on Steppenwolf with critic and pop culture historian David Flint, recorded exclusively for Arrow Video in 2025
Reading Steppenwolf as a Transnational Post-Western, a brand new visual essay by author, film historian, and academic Lee Broughton, exploring the use of American and Italian Western genre tropes in Steppenwolf and other films from around the world
The Making of Steppenwolf, a 15-minute behind-the-scenes featurette featuring interviews with the cast and crew
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new interviews with Steppenwolf cast and crew members, including writer-director Adilkhan Yerzhanov, producer Aliya Mendygozhina, actors Berik Aitzhanov and Anna Starchenko, composer Galymzhan Moldanazar, and cinema
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly-commissioned artwork by Time Tomorrow

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[photo courtesy of ARROW VIDEO, MVD ENTERTAINMENT]

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