The film is a surrealistic drama, in which two different plots lines intersect on some mystical level. In the first story, a young boy possesses an unexplainable talent: his soul can separate from his body. As the boy falls asleep, his soul moves into the body of his mother's murdered boyfriend, who then sets out to find his murderers.
In the second story, an American pathologist comes to Kazakhstan on an exchange program. As he explores this exotic world, he meets a young man, travels with him for a few days, and even tries to help him find the people for whom he is searching. One day he finds his friend dead, while other people claim he has already been dead for days. The pathologist's examination confirms what he knows to be impossible.
The film was recently screened at the 2001 Viennale retrospective of Central Asian films.
Timur Suleimenov was born in Aralsk, Kazakhstan in 1959. After studying engineering, he switched to filmmaking and studied at the State Institute for Filmmaking (VGIK) in Moscow from 1982 until 1987.
| 1987 | Death of a Bank Clerk (diploma, short) |
| 1992 | The Shadow of a Boy (short) |
| 1993 | The Stranger |