Customer Reviews

Mongolian Ping Pong

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It is not easy to develop a film from a child's point of view...as it has only been done successfully a few times. (See VILLAGE OF DREAMS - a Japanese movie or PETER PAN). Here, a Mongolian boy who lives in one of the remote spots of the earth discovers a white ping pong ball floating down the river; neither he, nor the elders or even Buddhist priests, understand what it is. It floats. It glows when a flashlight is turned upon it. First, it is understood as a treasure of the river spirits. Next it is thought to be an invaluable glowing pearl. When the boy is told this is THE NATIONAL BALL of China, the boy and two other young friends undertake a wild quest to cross the Gobi Desert to return this treasure to Beijing. Of course, it is a mere ping pong ball, and when the young fellow finally understands the triviality of the ball, the magic is gone. So, which is better: human imagination or reality, a beautiful leap of faith or a scrawny truth?

The film centers around family and friends of our main character Bilick, a young boy family living among nomadic hearders of the steppes in remote modern day Mongolia. Tucked deep within the country side, their group has managed to remain largely unafected by the frenzy of modern society. Western gadgets are rare commodities and Bilick is mystified when he discovers a ping pong ball floating down stream; confused by the ball's unique physical properties, he is not sure what he has found, he thinks perhaps a dragon's egg.

It is on this revelation on which the rest of the film comprises; three young boys set out on an adventure to unearth the mysterious origins of what we commonly know as a ping pong ball.

The language spoken in the film is Mongolian, but translates very well into english subtitles; you can tell which charactor is talking, the jokes are still funny, word emphasis and tonality are not completely lost in translation, etc.
This film has little to do with ping pong; more of it's focus and strength arise from the nuances of the culture it so beautifuly exposes within the eco-panorama of the asian steppe. In a world so very far away from out own, in a landscape more pristine than we could ever imagine, it is suprising that we still have so much in common with these charactors.

This film does not easily fit into a certain genre, it delves in, but never completely commits itself to comedy, drama and adventure. Much of the joy that comes from this movie are the thought provocing questions it brings to mind about society (globalization, culture, eco-systems, etc.). Equaly appealing was the beautiful cinematography of the steppes.

Ping-Pong inspires a sense of awe and a sense of wonder, offering an intimate glance into the captivating lifestyle of mongolian hearders unknown to most americans. These nuances, along with the childhood naivity of Bilick and his friends, will keep a smile on your face through out the movie.
Fans just getting into the indi/foreign film genre should check this out, as well as asian americans,ping pong fans, or anyone interested in sociology, psychology, ecology, geography, world history, and film lovers in general are a good fit to like this movie.
If you dont like foreign films or dont like to stray to far away from the typical hollywood production, this is probably not for you.

I had my doubts when I read the synopsis of this film. It sounded like a "The Gods Must Be Crazy" knockoff, with a ping pong ball in Mongolia instead of a Coke bottle in Africa. That's kind of true, but it's only half the story.

I recommend this film for two main reasons. First are the beautiful shots of the plains of Inner Mongolia -- part of China, not Mongolia the independent country. Unending grassy steppes with brooding cloudy skies. Wonderful, and the images alone are probably worth the price of admission.

Second is the glimpse it provides into life on those steppes. The trucks that come by with occasional random goods from afar for trade with the locals -- like a sheep for a coffee set, when the people have no idea what coffee is except that it's a kind of "American tea". The close relationship with horses. The apparent use of some occasional electrical equipment, like flashlights and televisions (I wish they had explained the power source for the latter, but I guess that's OK). The possibility that there is a place where a ping pong ball could inspire wonder.

Story is not the film's strong suit, and it does move slowly. Still, it is a charming tale about the innocence of boyhood. I appreciate having seen it, as I now feel I have a very passing familiarity with a world and a way of life I knew next to nothing about before.

More than anything else, this is a superior portrait of life in Mongolia today--a culture combining the same yurts (grassland domestic dwellings) used a thousand years ago with the occasional TV and motor scooter. Folks still get around on horseback (the film was shot in 2003-04), and still wear pretty much the same kind of clothes today they did centuries ago--with the odd baseball cap here and there!

Three young boys take off on a journey from somewhere in the wilds of the Mongolian grasslands to attempt to return the "national ball" of China--a ping pong ball one of them finds floating in a stream--to Beijing, its proper home, or so they think. The only way they know it's the "national ball" of China is because they've been able to hear (not see) this pronouncement on a TV set whose reception's confined to sound only, during the broadcast of a national ping pong match in Beijing.

Mongolia is still part of China. Once the proud origin of Genghis Khan--whom natives still honor and pay homage to--it's now the home of people who live simple lives herding sheep and bartering with the occasional "traveling salesman" who drives by in a beat up pick-up truck.

Much has been made of the film being a sort of Mongolian version of The Gods Must Be Crazy, as well as a cinematic work capturing the innocence of childhood. But for my money, it's a great depiction of a part of the world rarely, if ever, seen by Westerners. Lensed by a Chinese filmmaker, Hao Ning, it's a terrific view of life lived so removed from what the typical American is used to, it's worth it just to see the film for this reason.

While it's true that for the most part, this is seen from the perspective of the young boys, there are more than a few scenes that veer away from that perspective--the traveling salesman trying to woo one of the boy's older pretty sister; the father trying to construct a second house; the grandmother singing the same song repeatedly. The occasional references to Western civilization--the father glancing through a Chinese version of Elle magazine, for example--really highlight the vast and intriguing cultural differences.

Highly recommended.

This film about three boys--Bilike, Dawa, and Erguotou --and family life on the endless, windswept Mongolian steppe might be the most feel-good, family-friendly, and culturally exotic movie you could watch this year. The stunning scenery alone makes the film worth watching, as does the window onto their fascinating family life. When Bilike finds a ping pong ball floating in a stream near his tent-home, it becomes both a mysterious talisman to protect and an exotic treasure to envy. No one can tell him what it is. His parents have no idea, nor do the Buddhist monks, while his grandmother says it's a "glowing pearl" from the river spirits. When their father finally gets a TV signal with his antenna of beer cans and metal saucers, they learn from watching ping pong on TV that the artifact is "the ball of our nation." What to do? The fate of the ping pong ball and the disruption it causes among the boys, their friends, and family, form the plot of this movie. It will remind some viewers of The Gods Must Be Crazy about a coke bottle thrown from a plane that is discovered by a bushman in the Kalahari desert, and The Story of the Weeping Camel which also takes place in the Gobi desert. In Mongolian with English subtitles.

In the vein of THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY, Chinese director Hao Ning captures a similar theme in MONGOLIAN PING PONG, but instead of a coke bottle this time it's a ping pong ball.

Seven-year-old Bilike lives on the Great Mongolian Steppe in a landscape of vast plains ruled by nomads-of-ol'. He survives with his family and friends in a fairly mundane cycle of life until one day he discovers a strange, white ball floating down a nearby river. He quickly grasps it and sets himself on an adventure. No one has ever seen anything like this ball. His bewitching grandmother tells him it's a good-luck item from the gods. Others think it might be a magical pearl. Bilike and his friends are enchanted and try to figure it out on their own. Traveling to wise monks, policeman, and eventually to Beijing, Bilike eventually finds out the truth about this rather ordinary object as he is forced to grow up.

Although similar in plotting to The Gods Must Be Crazy, Mongolian Ping Pong has better usage of camera, lighting and landscape. The panoramic vistas of the Mongolian Steppe are, without a doubt, absolutely magnificent. The location plays perhaps a more central character than the characters themselves. Which caused a few problems. Hao Ning (director) lets the camera linger on these beautiful shots too often and for too long, making the pacing agonizingly slow (although beautiful, one can only watch so much of this before it gets a bit tiring). Employing no-name actors is fairly common in films such as this, but it's very evident that none of these people (kids and adults alike) have very little if any acting experience, making many character sequences fall flat or wooden.

The initial quality of the filming, too, leant itself to a slightly documentary-style feel, which isn't horrible but something that detracts a little.

But even with these flaws, the story is quaint enough and infused with childlike wonder that most viewers probably won't mind. Be forewarned, though, as mentioned earlier, it is a sloooow film but shot with art-like dedication when looking at it overall.

Mongolian Ping Pong (Lu Cao Di) is a sweet-natured movie with almost no narrative strength or rhythm. One critic said that it was such slow going that it might have little appeal to Western audiences. I'm willing to speculate that it might have little appeal to most Eastern audiences. There is much to like about the movie, but those things are cast in a structure that is so placid that it is difficult to stay very interested. This isn't an audience weakness among those who prefer some movement; it is a basic structural weakness the director has given to his story.

And the story? A seven-year-old Chinese Mongolian boy, Bilike, who lives with his family and friends in small yurts away from the cities tending their sheep, one day makes a wondrous discovery. Floating in a stream is a small white ball. He's never seen anything like it. He thinks at first it might be a strange bird's egg. His aged grandmother tells him it is a magic pearl. We know it is a ping-pong ball. How it got to this place of vast grasslands we never learn. Then over the static of the family's television, Bilike learns that ping-pong is the national sport and the ping-pong ball is the national ball. He has no real idea of what ping-pong is, but now is convinced that he and his two friends must bring the national ball to Beijing. They set out on two horses and a moped. The result is a couple of strong spankings, a friendship which is sorely tested, a Solomon-like decision by two fathers on the fate of the ball...and then it's time for Bilike to go away to school in a distant city.

There is much to enjoy about the movie. All the actors appear to be non-professionals (although Bilike's mother is played by Badema, the woman who played the young Mongolian wife in Close to Eden almost 17 years ago). We don't see much of them except for the three boys, but they bring an unaffected naturalness to their roles. The boys all are matter-of-fact and serious in their endeavors. The photography is fine with great vistas of grassland sweeping on to the horizon. The life of Bilike's family is interesting...making leather from sheep skins, sipping tea - and that American tea called coffee - inside the yurt in the evening, improvising an antenna for TV reception, visits by a health worker for inoculations, the look of the yurts, warm and colorful with rugs on the floor and hangings on the sides.

But there is only the sketchiest of narrative storyline. The movie is half over before the boys learn about the national ball and set out to cross the Gobi desert to Beijing. We witness incidents and relationships which all have a kind of directorial passiveness. Ning Hao, the director, isn't afraid to keep his camera going for a moment or two longer than many directors would. This isn't a bad thing, except he uses this device as a continuing technique. After awhile it has the effect of deadening us to the anticipation that there might be something we should be observing.

Still, there is the matter of the ending. (Some might consider what follows a spoiler.) The title for this final chapter is "New Ground Upon Which Knowledge Grows." Bilike is at his school watching an outdoor performance of other students. He excuses himself to go to the bathroom. On the way he stops and listens outside a large, yellow-brick building. We can faintly hear popping sounds. Bilike enters, listens at a closed door and then opens the door. We can clearly hear odd, rhythmic popping sounds as the camera stays focused on Bilike's seven-year-old face. He observes what we can't see. No, he has not found the place at school where little boys are turned into ping-pong balls. It's a sweet end to Bilike's story, and it might lead to who knows what for Bilike. Still, like the movie, it is so under-played you might miss the enticing significance.

I enjoyed the movie the same way I enjoy most films that show a way and a rhythm of life that's different from our own. Mongolian Ping Pong, however, is placid to a fault. Others I enjoyed more are such films as Himalaya, The Way Home, The Fast Runner, The Story of the Weeping Camel and Close to Eden. None of them are perfect, but each in its own way tells a more composed story.

The DVD transfer is fine but not exceptional. There are a handful of extras, including the printed thoughts of the director. Unfortunately, the type is just small enough to be unpleasant to read. The movie's subtitles are white with a black edge that helps with legibility.

Terrific film that more than anything else shows the scale of Mongolia, there is something moonlike about it, as if the traveling tinker's truck crossing the grasslands is a rover traveling across the crust of the moon. The very last scene telesopes the whole movie.

This film was the second and worst knock-off from "The Story of the Weeping Camel." (The first being "The Cave of the Yellow Dog.") The "Ping Pong" story is weak, the film disjointed, dismal, boring - with far too many and disconnected characters. I can shrug off a poor movie, but what got me going was re-reading the cover of the DVD to try to see why I would ever have picked this film. The over-the-top comments by media reviewers simply were not upheld by the movie. I cannot believe those reviewers actually sat through the movie and still wrote those (misleading) comments. "Weeping Camel" was wonderful. There is no comparison of "Ping Pong" to it nor to "The Gods Must Be Crazy."

I hope the film maker will get the critique he needs in order to advance his skill. He was likely doing his best to present life in the Mongolian culture as it is in its transition between old and modern life. Much of the photography was beautiful. However, the movie was not billed as a scenic presentation but a story.

I like slice of life foreign films but this one has virtually no redeeming qualities, save, endless views of remote flat grasslands of Mongolia. The characters are hardly fleshed out, there is nothing enduring, charming, enlightening or even mildly amusing, ironic, or funny.