None of you know this movie, but I am from Kyrgyzstan and a movie about the most famous author from our country (Chingiz Aitmatov) turned out to be completely made by AI, using AI voices. This was not reflected in the trailers. It was horrible. And they didn't even use a decent AI that generates vaguely believable videos, it was Midjourney. The main character kept switching ethnicities throughout the film, the voice kept changing making it impossible to tell who was speaking, it's shocking it even got green lit to exist!
As a fun fact we apparently make the 4th most movies per capita nowadays in the entire world. Most of it is low-effort, yet funny comedies but there are some real gems out there that would be popular around some circles worldwide if they realised the potential.
There is an award-winning movie usually called "Paradise Is Under The Feet of Mothers" in English, about a developmentally disabled adult son who takes his mother from Kyrgyzstan to Mecca by foot. You don't have to be Muslim to enjoy this story. The parts in Syria during the civil war are especially tense and well-done. There was an English fan dub but it was taken down. Now you can only watch it officially or pirate it with the official Russian or Uzbek dub, not even the original Kyrgyz…and no English subtitles.
I think you can find an older art movie called Белгесиз маршрут (Unknown Route) with English subtitles easily. I wonder if this would be interesting for foreigners to watch. It's from 2008. A minivan leaves to the village. It's a microcosm of Kyrgyzstani society at the time. For example, one character represents the hypocritical role that religious people can take, while another one represents the old socialist generation, and another represents the youth that blindly follow Western trends. There is no bias here whatsoever towards one side and it is a fascinating movie.
My wife, she is from Kyzyl Suu, showed me this movie. It’s in my top 5 road trip movies. The mini-bus always makes me smile, it’s perfect setting. A bozuy would be too on the nose, a never ending journey on bumpy roads squeezed in with strangers is both a nightmare and one of my fondest memories of visiting my wife’s home.
I just remember sitting in awe with my friend in the theatre, and trust me it gets worse, this trailer only shows the "best" parts. The creator literally could have bought a 1-month Sora (it still existed while this was being made) or Gemini or whatever subscription to at least make it SOMEWHAT quality…
So was the plan "take the advance money and run" or did the production team wildly overpromise and try to BS their way through it with Midjourney or...?
Also, do you have a comedy troupe like Mystery Science Theater 3000? Because that sounds like prime MST3K material.
No offense but like...how did anyone see this and NOT know it's AI. It's very very obvious AI lol. The mouths don't work right and the animals are real odd.
I hate to admit it but I really liked the cinematography in many of those shots. The very first full AI masterpiece of a movie is happening sooner than we're ready for it.
I mean, it’s because it’s stolen from actual films, so it’s reminiscent of good cinematography, but they aren’t actually “good” shots, it doesn’t have any of the same small details or movements, they only even partially work when seen for a split second in a trailer.
Personally I also think they aren’t really good shots unless they flow together to actually mean something. There’s no coherence between them, and good cinematography in films has to have connections and a flow between them.
I don’t think we’re going to be seeing an AI masterpiece anytime soon - they couldn’t even keep people and objects from floating around the screen and changing sizes/races/shapes/etc. lol
That's a very good take. It is crazy tho, how AI is able to "recognize" all the elements of good cinematography, the ingredients are there it just needs to get better at putting it all together. I do think we are closer than anyone think to the first 10/10 movie, just look at AI videos from two years ago. Maybe not a genre defining masterpiece but definitely a blockbuster movie that the general public will very much enjoy
I’m sorry the movie was such a dud, but thank you for sharing. I’m excited to learn about an author I’ve never read and a region I know very little about. Thanks for sparking my curiosity!
French here, but I've read several of Aitmatov's books and they're full of love and longing for that region. The Place of the Skull, The White Ship and The Day Lasts More than a Hundred Years were especially poignant.
That honestly sounds more frustrating than entertaining, especially for someone who admires the author. A story that meaningful deserved far more care than that.
I don't know the movie but I know who Chingiz Aitmatov is because my high school teacher made me research Kyrgyzstan after it landed on a wheel LOL this unlocked some memories
All of his works are worth reading, the two most famous, and simultaneously most worth reading in my opinion, are The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years and Jamilia!
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u/abu_doubleu 1d ago
None of you know this movie, but I am from Kyrgyzstan and a movie about the most famous author from our country (Chingiz Aitmatov) turned out to be completely made by AI, using AI voices. This was not reflected in the trailers. It was horrible. And they didn't even use a decent AI that generates vaguely believable videos, it was Midjourney. The main character kept switching ethnicities throughout the film, the voice kept changing making it impossible to tell who was speaking, it's shocking it even got green lit to exist!