Program Note
A small village situated in the vast wilderness. The village descends into chaos and bloody violence due to clashes between the police and rioters following looting and suppression. Amid the confusion, a criminal being transported picks up a police uniform and joins in the murder and violence. Suddenly, a woman named Tamara appears and offers him a reward if he helps her find her kidnapped son. Reluctantly accepting the offer, the man sets out with Tamara on a journey to find her son. Their journey across the wilderness becomes a violent race through a dystopian world where law and order have collapsed. Adіlkhan Yerzhanov, a director representing Central Asian cinema, has been noted for his challenging forms and original cinematic world over the past decade. This time, he blends and twists the universe of the Mad Max series with the western genre to create a dystopian world where the distinction between hero and anti-hero, good and evil, and morality is blurred. Like Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf referenced in the title, the film presents an intense and captivating story of a lonely anti-hero's revenge against a great evil, delivering stylish genre thrills. (KIM Young-woo)