While our two main characters are the primary motor by which we traipse the mountainsides, their combined plotlines are designed more to observe and deliberate over the Himalayas rather than focus on them as people. That isn’t to say we don’t spend a considerable amount of time witnessing the private and vulnerable moments of Tukten and Hannah.
The film takes great lengths to stare unflinchingly at the burdens they carry, metaphoric, and otherwise. However, while their differing experiences within this remarkable land is reflected through foreign and familiar lenses, it all comes back to appreciation in the end. This film is a love letter of every aspect – natural, social, cultural – of Nepal. Those who share in this journey will find a great many things to enjoy and ponder about the film.
“…as poetic and prolonged as it is beautiful.”
Technically, the movie impresses very much like an earlier Robert Bresson picture, where minimalism, deliberation, and asceticism are the most evident tools in the filmmaker’s arsenal. This allows the audience to get deeply lost in thought without missing any significant beats. While its pace and far-removed narrative and visual styles will drive more casual movie-going viewers away, The Mountains Are a Dream that Call to Me is as poetic and prolonged as it is beautiful.
The Mountains Are a Dream that Call to Me screened at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.
"…takes great lengths to stare unflinchingly at the burdens they carry, metaphoric and otherwise."
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