Mustafa (Akhtem Seitablayev), a grizzled farmer with a profile as unforgiving as an axe head, and his estranged younger son Alim (Remzi Bilyalov) are united in grief. They are flung together by the death of Nazim, the older son and brother, but have little else in common, in this arresting feature debut by Nariman Aliev. But as their journey from Kyiv in Ukraine to their Crimean homeland unfolds, with the shrouded and ripening body of Nazim in the back of the car, the bonds of blood and an embattled shared culture – they are Crimean Tatars – incrementally overcome even the most deeply rooted of personal differences.

Aliev is himself a Tatar, and all of his short films to date have dealt with his people and heritage. Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 shone a spotlight on the region, but the roots of this particular story run further and deeper. The taciturn disapproval of the father and the cowed silence of his son result in few opportunities for exposition within the sparse dialogue, but we piece together enough to learn that Mustafa’s family, like nearly 200,000 other Tatars, were deported from Crimea just after the second world war. Once they were allowed to return, Mustafa made it his life’s mission to carve out a place for his sons on the land. It’s beyond his comprehension that they would reject it.

Elegant framing makes striking use of a generous widescreen aspect ratio, but the film’s main asset is a deft screenplay that subtly reverses the roles of father and son as the journey progresses. Mustafa’s rigidity is softened by failing health and the realisation that not all encounters are battles – a kite-flying scene has a soul-soaring beauty and simplicity. And after a bonding moment in which his father coaches him in the best way to kill a man, Alim hardens as he shoulders the responsibility for his bloodline.

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