Starring Askhat Kuchencherekov. In Kazakh and Russian with English subtitles. Rated PG. Opens Friday, April 24, at the Ridge Theatre

What do you do when the woman you love doesn’t like you because your ears are too big? That kind of dilemma is compounded when your corner of Kazakhstan has nothing but dry grass, hungry sheep, and the odd pissed-off camel. It’s even dicier when the swain in question is a slow starter like Asa (Askhat Kuchencherekov), whose brief time in the Russian navy has given him such mating aids as a dapper blue uniform and beyond-iffy tales about fighting giant sea creatures.

Asa lives with his warm-hearted sister (Samal Esljamova) and her husband (Ondas Besikbasov), an earnest, deeply competent shepherd who would really, really like Asa out of the yurt. The guy seems unnecessarily gruff, but the other youngsters in this beautifully individuated family could drive you nuts. The oldest boy is obsessed with radio broadcasts, the middle girl sings at the top of her lungs, and there’s a toddler who won’t leave his toy horse behind.

Kazakh-born filmmaker Sergei Dvortsevoy, working with a loose script he wrote with Gennadi Ostrovsky, comes from a documentary background, and his tale is a charming blend of found circumstances and genially manipulated material—with an emphasis on the human comedy of people who struggle just to make it through the next dust storm.

Particularly memorable is Asa’s best friend, Boni (Tolepbergen Baisakalov), a gold-toothed yokel whose water truck is a rambling porn wagon. I would tell you more about Tulpan, the girl of Asa’s dreams, but he—and we—never actually see her. And, by the way, his ears are small.