There's an almost magical quality to Chinese director Xie Fie's drama "A Mongolian Tale," but it's not a fantasy. The movie features a mysterious black stallion and a heartbreaking love story, but it's definitely not a fantasy.
For one thing, there's no sappy ending. And for another, it's too realistic to be considered fantasy. Still, with its almost poetic tone, its longing for simpler times and its gorgeous photography, the film is the next best thing to a fantasy.
It also sheds some light on a culture rarely seen in Western cinema — old-fashioned Mongolian agricultural practices. Certainly no film outside of Nicolas Roeg's classic feature "Walkabout," which centered partially on aborigine culture, has made old-fashioned living seem so enticing as this film does.
Adapted from the novel "The Black Steed" by Chinese author Zhang Chengzhi, it tells the story of Beiyinpalica, a motherless Chinese boy, and Someyer, an orphaned Mongolian girl, raised by Nai-Nai (Dogolesurong), a foster grandmother.
On Nai-Nai's isolated farm/orphanage, Someyer (Bayinbatoya) learns to be a farmhand, while Beiyinpalica (Wendilya) is trained to be a horseman. The two are also pledged to wed when the boy returns from formal schooling.
However, instead of the expected eight months, the now teenage Beiyinpalica stays in school for three years to receive musical training. And when he does return, he renews his pledge to marry the girl, but she has been impregnated by a local rogue — causing him to leave home for good.
A decade passes, and Beiyinpalica (Tengger), now a famous folksinger, sets out to find his long-lost love (Naranhuar). Needless to say, when he finds she is married and has five children, their reunion is bittersweet.
Some audiences may be put off by the slow pacing, but the eventual emotional payoff is worth it. And although the film's ending is somewhat downbeat, it still fits in with the overall tone, which is almost wistful, but wonderfully so. Superb photography and an almost philosophical screenplay (which was written by Chengzhi himself) certainly help.
The performances by all three leads are excellent (especially Dogolesurong, who is especially ingratiating), as are those by the child actors. Tengger, a pop star in China and Taiwan, also doubled as the film's composer, and his understated score — which is silent exactly when it should be — is winning as well.
"A Mongolian Tale" is not rated, but would probable receive a PG for a few scattered profanities, some violence and a brief, mildly vulgar scene involving small children.