''Travellers and Magicians'';
Wylie: ''chang hub thengs gcig gi 'khrul snang''; literally: "''once upon a time hallucinating on a sip of wine''"
is a 2003 Bhutanese
Dzongkha
Dzongkha (; ) is a Sino-Tibetan language that is the official and national language of Bhutan. It is written using the Tibetan script.
The word means "the language of the fortress", from ' "fortress" and ' "language". , Dzongkha had 171,080 n ...
-language film written and directed by
Khyentse Norbu
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche (, born June 18, 1961),[Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche ...](_blank)
, writer and director of the arthouse film
''The Cup''. The movie is the first feature film shot entirely in the Kingdom of Bhutan. The majority of the cast are not professional actors;
Tshewang Dendup, a well-known Bhutanese
radio actor and producer, is the exception.
Plot
A young government official named Dondup (played by
Tshewang Dendup) who is smitten with
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
(he even has a
denim
Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck. While a denim predecessor known as dungaree has been pr ...
gho
The gho or g'ô ( dz, བགོ, ) is the traditional and national dress for men in Bhutan. Introduced in the 17th century by Ngawang Namgyal, 1st Zhabdrung Rinpoche, to give the Ngalop people a more distinctive identity, it is a knee-length r ...
) dreams of escaping there while stuck in a beautiful but isolated village. He hopes to connect in the U.S. embassy with a
visa
Visa most commonly refers to:
*Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company
** Visa Debit card issued by the above company
** Visa Electron, a debit card
** Visa Plus, an interbank network
*Travel visa, a document that allows ...
out of the country. He misses the one bus out of town to
Thimphu
Thimphu (; dz, ཐིམ་ཕུག ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Bhutan. It is situated in the western central part of Bhutan, and the surrounding valley is one of Bhutan's ''dzongkhags'', the Thimphu District. The ancient ...
, however, and is forced to hitchhike and walk along the
Lateral Road
The East-West Highway, also known as the Lateral Road, is the Bhutan primary east–west corridor, connecting Phuentsholing in the southwest to Trashigang in the east. In between, the Lateral Road runs directly through Wangdue Phodrang, Trongsa, ...
to the west, accompanied by an apple seller, a
Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
with his ornate, dragon-headed
dramyin
The dramyin or dranyen (; dz, dramnyen; ) is a traditional Himalayan folk music lute with six strings, used primarily as an accompaniment to singing in the Drukpa Buddhist culture and society in Bhutan, as well as in Tibet, Ladakh, Sikkim and ...
heading to Thimphu, a drunk, a widowed
rice paper
"Rice paper" has many varieties such as rice paper made from tree bark to make drawing and writing paper or from rice flour and tapioca flour and then mixed with salt and water to produce a thin rice cake and dried to become harder and paper-like ...
maker and his daughter Sonam (played by
Sonam Lhamo
Sonam Lhamo (born 1988) is a Bhutanese actress. She is best known for playing one of the leading roles in the 2003 film Travellers and Magicians. Lhamo plays a young hitchhiker in the movie, accompanying her farmer father to the city. Lhamo was ...
).
To pass the time, the monk tells the tale of Tashi, a restless farmboy who, like Dondup, dreams of escaping village life. Tashi rides a horse that goes into a forest. He immediately becomes lost in remote mountains and finds his life entwined with that of an elderly hermit woodcutter and his beautiful young wife. Tashi's wish of escape granted, he finds himself caught in a web of lust and jealousy, enchanted by the beautiful and yielding wife, but fearing the woodsman and his axe. Tashi finally tries to murder the woodcutter, aided by his wife who is pregnant by Tashi. He runs away, however, while the old man is near death, burdened by his guilt. Deki, the woodcutter's wife calls and runs after him, but drowns in a mountain river while giving pursuit.
Tashi's adventures finally turn out to be hallucinations induced by
chhaang
Chhaang or chhyang (, ne, छ्याङ, new, थो:) is a Nepalese and Tibetan alcoholic beverage also popular in parts of the eastern Himalayas, Yakkha, Limbu, Dura, Newar, Sunuwar, Rai, Gurung, Magar, Sherpa, Tamang and Lepcha comm ...
, a home-brewed liquor. The monk's tale merely parallels Dondup's growing attraction to Sonam. During a dilemma similar to Tashi's, Dondup manages to hitch a ride to Thimphu. The film ends without showing the final outcome of Dondup's journey - his visa interview and his trip abroad. The audience is left to wonder whether the trip changed his attitude toward the village and Bhutan, and if he returned to the village.
Themes
According to the director, the story of Dendup was inspired by ''
Izu No Odoriko
is a novel by Japanese writer and Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata first published in 1926.
Plot
The narrator, a twenty-year-old student from Tokyo, travels the Izu Peninsula during the last days of the summer holidays, a journey which he ...
'' (''The Dancing Girl of Izu''), a story by
Yasunari Kawabata
was a Japanese novelist and short story writer whose spare, lyrical, subtly shaded prose works won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1968, the first Japanese author to receive the award. His works have enjoyed broad international appeal an ...
about a group of travellers and an infatuation between a dancing girl and a schoolboy. The story of Tashi was inspired by a Buddhist
fable
Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mo ...
about two brothers, one of whom aspires to become a magician.
In making this movie, Khyentse Norbu, (also known as Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, an internationally renowned Buddhist lama), sets the standard for the nascent Bhutanese film industry. The story depicts traditional Bhutanese folklore and storytelling techniques. ''Travellers and Magicians'' is a profoundly Bhutanese film, with a theme and vocabulary that reflects the
culture of Bhutan
Cradled in the folds of the Himalayas, Bhutan has relied on its geographical isolation to protect itself from outside cultural influences. A sparsely populated country bordered by India to the south, and China to the north, Bhutan has long mainta ...
.
The storytelling technique employed in the film is the one of a
story within a story
A story within a story, also referred to as an embedded narrative, is a literary device in which a character within a story becomes the narrator of a second story (within the first one). Multiple layers of stories within stories are sometimes c ...
, as the monk narrates the story of Tashi. The nesting of worlds goes three levels deep, as Tashi hallucinates/dreams after consuming chhang.
Traditional and fusion music is used, with Western
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
and Western-influenced music being heard via Dondup's music system and traditional music from the ''dramyin'' of the monk and as ambient music. The noted chant music advocate
David Hykes
David Hykes (born March 2, 1953, Taos, New Mexico) is a composer, singer, musician, author, and meditation teacher. He was one of the earliest modern western pioneers of overtone singing, and since 1975 has developed a comprehensive approach to ...
contributed music at the invitation of the director. A soundtrack of the movie has been commercially released.
Since only a quarter of the people of Bhutan have the mother tongue of Dzongkha, one of the cast members —
Sonam Kinga Dasho Sonam Kinga is a Bhutanese politician and researcher at the Center for Bhutan Studies. He played the monk in the 2003 film ''Travellers and Magicians'', for which he is also credited as a dialogue coach.
Sonam Kinga obtained his Ph.D and MA ...
— acted as dialog coach to the cast.
Production
In keeping with the production of Norbu's previous movie ''
The Cup'', no professional actors (save Dendup: a radio actor) were used. Auditions were held to select the cast from all walks of life including farmers, schoolchildren, and employees of the
Bhutan Broadcasting Service
The Bhutan Broadcasting Service (BBS, dz, འབྲུག་རྒྱང་བསྒྲགས་ལས་འཛིན) is the state-owned radio and television service in Bhutan. A public service corporation which is fully funded by the state and ...
,
Government of Bhutan
The Government of Bhutan has been a constitutional monarchy since 18 July 2008.
The King of Bhutan is the head of state. The executive power is exercised by the Lhengye Zhungtshog, or council of ministers, headed by the Prime Minister. Legislat ...
, and the
Royal Bodyguard
A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects a person or a group of people — usually witnesses, high-ranking public officials or officers, ...
. Many production decisions, including casting and fixing the date of release, were chosen using
Mo — an ancient method of divination.
[US Press Kit](_blank)
, Travellers and Magicians website
Release and reception
Box office
According to
Box Office Mojo
Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon.
History
Brandon Gray began ...
, the film was in release for 28 weeks and its total lifetime grosses were $668,639.
Critical reception
''Travellers and Magicians'' received positive reviews from critics. ''
Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' film critic David Stratton praised the "natural and unaffected" acting by the film's cast. ''
Salon
Salon may refer to:
Common meanings
* Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments
* French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home
* Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment
Arts and entertainment
* Salon (P ...
s Andrew O'Hehir gave the film a positive review and wrote that "
ravellers and Magicianswon't rock your cinematic sense of self, I guess, but it's a smart, winsome and often beautiful little picture; I didn't want it to end". Dessen Thompson, writing for ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', praised the film as "deeply enchanting". In his review of the film for ''
Slant
Slant can refer to:
Bias
*Bias or other non-objectivity in journalism, politics, academia or other fields
Technical
* Slant range, in telecommunications, the line-of-sight distance between two points which are not at the same level
* Slant d ...
'', Josh Vasquez gave the film two and a half stars out four. In his review of the film published in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', Dave Kehr described it as a "pleasant, colorful travelogue".
The review-aggregation website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
gives the film a score of 93% based on 61 reviews from critics, with an average rating of 7.35/10. The website's "Critics Consensus" for the film reads, "Interwined tales of spiritual discovery are set against a gorgeous, evocative landscape in this pleasant, engaging import."
On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a score of 71 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Accolades
* Audience award,
Deauville Asian Film Festival The Deauville Asian Film Festival (the Festival du film asiatique de Deauville) takes place annually in Deauville, France since 1999 and focuses on Asian cinema. A film competition was added to the festival in 2000 and a video competition in 2002.
...
* Best emerging director, ''Asian American International Film festival''
Notes
Explanatory notes
References
External links
*
Words of My Perfect Teacher a documentary on Khyentse Norbu
{{The Dancing Girl of Izu
2003 films
Dzongkha-language films
Films about Buddhism
Bhutanese drama films
Films set in Bhutan
Films shot in Bhutan
2000s adventure drama films
Tibetan-language films
2003 drama films
Films based on short fiction