Darezhan Omirbayev's "July" isn't exactly a coming of age kind of film, though it shares similar feelings and ideas as we follow two boys, their love for movies and the series of situations they go through while trying to rewatch a movie they liked. It evokes ideas of loss of innocence but it's not shown in the usual routine of similarly themed stories, which makes of this short as something quite unique and nostalgic to watch.

Set in a smalltown in Kazakhstan, two friends spend the little money they were given to watch a Bollywood movie. Despite the excitment of seeing the only fun thing in town, on a small theater whose owner locks the children inside, one of the boys gets easily distracted by observing a girl he fancies.

The boys goal is to watch the film again, but without money, they decide to collect and sell fruits on a nearby train station where the action takes a complete different route with a scenario they think they were fooled, but audiences know exactly what happened and how the series of coincidences become unfortunate to them.

It's a quiet and sober movie that allows mature audiences into reflecting about their own childhood and the things kids do to fulfill a goal, and/or also a more serious look back when one realises that their transforming into adulthood when innocence is lost, and that the reality of films only belongs in the films. But it's not just about childhood frustration and poverty, it's about good memories, first dates, first crushes, good friendships and how the cinema was a fantastic collective experience - of which isn't all that much, lately.

A curious and memorable moment from "July" is when one of the boys fall asleep in the field and the transition of such scene morphs into us thinking the boys returned to the cinema where the film was replaced by a pianist, a different audience and a horse walking on the stage. It's an obvious dream with the boy hearing a piano playing on a radio, carried by a man on a horse, but for a brief moment we never think about the dream, we imagine a reality and the boys got close to what they wanted. That transition is one of the most unique and most brilliant I've seen in recent years. 9/10.

The drama genre is a broad category that features stories portraying human experiences, emotions, conflicts, and relationships in a realistic and emotionally impactful way. Dramas delve into the complexities of human life, often exploring themes of love, loss, morality, societal issues, personal growth, with the aim to evoke an emotional response from the audience by presenting relatable and thought-provoking stories.

Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)

The short form refers to creative works characterized by their brevity and concise storytelling. Unlike full-length feature films, short films have a running time of less than 45 minutes, while TV shorts have a running time of less than 22 minutes.

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One hot summer afternoon, two boys try to earn the cash for a movie in this beautiful evocation of the landscape of childhood.

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