MCLC: Pema Tseden's Old Dog review

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: Kevin B Lee <kevin at dgeneratefilms.com>
Subject: Pema Tseden's Old Dog review
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More information on the film can be found here:
http://dgeneratefilms.com/catalog/old-dog-lao-gou-khyi-rgan/

An interview with Pema Tsedan follows the review below.

Kevin

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Source: 
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/brooklyn-film-festival-old-dog-a-bol
d-uncompromising-tibetan-tale-20120609

Brooklyn Film Festival Review: 'Old Dog' A Bold, Uncompromising Tibetan
Tale
By Christopher Bell

And so the Tibetan new-wave cometh. Though merely a tiny ripple for
now (consisting of about two filmmakers), the homelanders are showing
a different side of their environment, one overlooked by features such
as ³Seven Years in Tibet² or the blockbusters currently burning the
region¹s box office. Pema Tseden¹s ³Old Dog² doesn¹t include any of
the flourishing beauty that the aforementioned Brad Pitt vehicle does,
instead opting to showcase a dismal, despairing area where the cities
look like post-apocalyptic wastelands and the countrysides don¹t seem
to contain a speck of life. While his outlook on things is
unrelentingly critical, he¹s not being negative for the sake of it --
there¹s some true passion behind this work, and Tseden is a director
with plenty to say on all topics, ranging from the younger
generation's lack of connection to their heritage to the troubling
relationship between Tibet and China. All is told in a subtle way,
with a minimal plot and quiet, patient long takes -- which is also
another way of saying that his modus operandi isn¹t likely to please
everyone, but for those that admire the work of filmmakers like Jia
Zhangke, another remarkable talent has emerged.

Things begin with a young man touring the city on his motorcycle, dog
in tow. This is Gonpo, and he hopes to get some scratch by selling his
old family canine -- with all the recent pooch snatching, he figures
he could beat the thieves to the punch and at least make some money
out of it. Unfortunately, the Chinese buyer he meets doesn¹t offer the
right price, so the unkempt looking man recruits his cousin (also a
police officer) to help negotiate a better price. He manages to seal
the deal, returning to his rural home without the mastiff mutt but
with a hefty chunk of change instead.

But no amount of money would please Akhu, Gonpo¹s elderly father, who
berates him for selling the dog. Add it to the list of issues he has
with his kin: Gonpo is lazy, unmotivated, and has been married for
years but is still without the pitter-patter of little feet. Akhu
returns to the town and, after enlisting the same badge-wielding
relative (what a helpful guy), he manages to retrieve the hound.
Unfortunately this is just the start of their problems with the
mastiff, and to add icing to the cake, the married couple soon
discover why they¹ve been having so much trouble conceiving.

Though the story is generally banal and plot developments are few and
far between, what is there is quite rich from both an emotional
standpoint and an allegorical one. Much of the former admittedly has
to do with the sole fact that the narrative is based around man¹s best
friend -- it¹d be difficult not to connect with this lovable pet,
especially considering he¹s shipped back and forth like some material
possession -- but Tseden knows the difference between legitimate
warmth and manipulative tear-jerking. Instead of pressing in for
dramatic impact, he tends to stay static, and from a distance -- the
results cause one to feel as if they¹re living there, in the moment.
Though the characters are reticent, we can feel their presence, their
bonds, their life.

Constructing a narrative where character arcs represent anything
metaphorical is always a danger: lay it on too thick and it can
backfire, feeling downright silly (³Afterschool,² for instance, is a
fine film -- that is until the deceased twins that set the story in
motion grow to represent the Twin Towers in the September 11th
attack). ³Old Dog² takes things down a subtler route, with the only
hazard being that proceedings might be too understated for those not
fluent in the goings-on in the Tibetan region -- for example,  the
loss of traditional values is embedded heavily into the journey of the
eponymous doggy and Gonpo. That said, the film isn¹t any less
absorbing because of this, and the power of the image is not just
universal but also the proper sweet spot between the aforementioned
poles-- one look at the muddy decrepit urban area that the characters
frequent is all it takes to see where Pseden is coming from.

These visual compositions are certainly planned and plotted in an
assured manner, but they still retain some life thanks to some
intuitive looseness. Towards the end of the film, a scene involving
some strangers offering to buy Akhu¹s mastiff is framed incredibly
wide, with a herd of sheep lingering in the distant background and the
humans conversing closer to the camera, a fence separating the
interested party and the elderly owner. After Akhu dismisses the offer
and returns to his stock, a lone sheep is isolated on the opposite
side of the fence, struggling to jump over and return to the pack.
Despite the scene being over, we linger for quite awhile on this
labor, with the abandoned one moving up the hill, closer to the lens.
It all results in a terrifically moving, magical moment, something
akin to last year¹s majestic ³La Quattro Volte.²

The slow pace eventually gives way to a truly unsettling climax, one
which will likely leave a deep imprint and be the cause of much
discussion (at this writer¹s screening, it took up about half the
Q&A). But this finale¹s lasting power, especially after the initial
shock has worn off, is a testament to how fantastic the preceding
sequences were. ³Old Dog² is a true gem and the mark of an especially
skilled director -- mark our words, Pema Tseden is a name you¹ll be
seeing in contention for the Palme d¹Or in the not-too-distant future.


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Source: 
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/interview-pema-tseden-on-tibet-mirac
ulous-surprises-on-set-and-new-film-20120610

'Old Dog' Director Pema Tseden Talks Tibet, Miraculous Surprises On
Set & His Next Film
By Christopher Bell

Pema Tseden is a name you're going to be much more familiar with in
the coming years. With his strong sense of visual composition and a
dedication to presenting the real Tibet, it's only a matter of time
before Cannes starts lapping his films up.

Already a prolific novelist in his native country, Tseden took up the
camera in 2002, producing a number of features in the neo-realist vein
and jump-starting the Tibetan independent scene with cinematographer
Sonthar Gyal. "Old Dog" is his latest effort, a quiet affair depicting
one family's struggle to keep their elderly family pooch from being
stolen at a time when its breed fetches a high price. Though the plot
reads like something thinly conceived, it's actually a cleverly
devised story, rich in allegory and social critiques with very little
fat on its bones.

A recent conversation with the director following a screening of "Old
Dog" at the Brooklyn Film Festival yielded some interesting
information, such as the reasoning behind his filmmaking style and new
projects to come.

Showing The Real Tibet

One of the biggest aims for the blossoming Tibetan new-wave is to show
a true portrait of the region, one not generally seen in cineplexes.
"I tried to show people the traditional way of life and the social
change taking place. For instance, in this film, there¹s a story
inside a story -- that young couple couldn¹t have a child. Through
that kind of situation I'm trying to tell people what is current in
Tibet. Things are changing," Tseden noted. "The main point of the film
is not just to tell a story, but also to demonstrate or document small
details that make up Tibet." After showing "Old Dog" in both China and
Tibet, audience members responded well, praising the accurate
representation of the region.

Importance Of Image And Location (SPOILERS)

As the filmmaker stresses his neo-realist approach to the material,
one can't help but notice that many of the environments come off as a
kind of post-apocalyptic wasteland. This unsettling feeling is
something that the filmmaker was well aware of. "I intentionally
created that kind of impact, but based on the story and the needs of
the story," he explained, noting that this particular narrative called
for such a bleak setting.

He goes on to explain the significance of his locale choices and the
way he frames them, confessing that he was "kind of depressed" during
the writing and shooting stages of the movie. "Maybe you noticed that
many scenes in the movie don¹t contain a lot of sky -- the shots were
framed very level, or horizontal. We wanted to create a very sad
feeling through this. When you watch the movie, and the dog is killed,
in many ways it¹s kind of a liberation. The dog is liberated in a way,
and the old man is too. At the end, he climbs a hill, which has some
symbolic meaning, because at the end of it it is closer to the sky."

Happy Accidents

Carefully composed single takes make up most of the movie, but the
filmmaker often leaves room to play around, allowing for chance
happenings and happy accidents. One of the most memorable scenes, in
which an entire flock of sheep run across the back of the frame while
an isolated one attempts to return to its group, actually came about
this way. "90 percent of compositions are pre-meditated, pre-planned.
We intentionally separated the one sheep from the group and set up a
camera to see what would happen, but we didn¹t know it would walk down
toward the camera. That was great, and then something even more
miraculous happened. When the old man walked back with the dog, the
entire sheep herd followed him. That is a very interesting part, and
we didn¹t expect that to happen! But it happened really naturally,
they merged, and it went with the feeling of the movie." Tseden often
takes advantage of the digital format by shooting scenes numerous
times, but he was so pleased with this outcome that he moved on after
a single attempt. "It was very natural... we had the perfect one," he
declared confidently.

Bergman Love

"I studied at the film academy in China for many years and I watched
hundreds of movies, so it¹s hard to say who really influenced me. But
I will say, Ingmar Bergman is probably one of them who really struck
me."

New Movie

It appears that rest isn't in the cards for this director. With three
ideas in his brain all demanding attention, it appears that once he
leaves the States he will begin work on one of them -- the
coincidentally titled "America." Here he gives the skinny:

"It's about a Western cow, not the traditional one found in Tibet.
This time the story would take place in Central Tibet. One family
purchased a very expensive cow from a foreign country because they
were told that it would produce a lot of milk. They're unsure what to
name it, and since they know there are a lot of these in America,
that¹s what they name it. When they attempt to breed it, it
inexplicably dies, leading to an investigation from the security
department. Because of this chain of events, the relationships between
people in this particular tight-knit village change, which is the main
point I'm going for. It's structurally different from 'Old Dog,' and
the movie will start when the cow is already dead, with people giving
their individual stories to the security department."