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Tuya's Marriage
R1 - America - MPI / Music Box Films Review written by and copyright: James Teitelbaum (8th December 2008). |
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The Film
 Written and directed by Quanan Wang, "Tuya's Marriage" begins looking as though it might be a peek into the lives of Mongolian sheep herders living on the edge of the 21st century. Cities and modern life are slowly closing in on these people, and yet their little yurt on the grassland seems as though it is in the most remote corner of the globe. We soon discover that the film is more than just a travelogue, as it becomes an occasionally funny but usually melancholy drama about how much one person can and will sacrifice to make sure their loved ones are cared for. Tuya (Nan Yu) toils with her sheep on the stark, cold inner Mongolian grassland. She has a very hard life, and has to take care of the herd more or less by herself, since her husband Bater (Bater) is disabled, and her two children are not yet old enough to take up substantial slack. Bater is a kind enough man, but he has lost a lot of his self-worth since suffering his crippling injury. A local man, Sen'ge (Sen'ge), keeps stumbling into Tuya's life - more or less literally. As the film opens, Tuya is moving her sheep home for the night, and she finds Sen'ge on the road, having wiped out on his motorcycle. He is wasted drunk, lamenting the fact that his wife is unfaithful. He believes that if he can earn enough money for a new truck (a rare thing to own in this region of the world) he will become a more successful businessman (read: herder) and will be able to get any woman he wants. This agenda may possibly include Tuya. Sen'ge requires being bailed out by Tuya again when he has a hay-hauling accident. This time, helping Sen'ge aggravates a minor back problem for Tuya, turning it into a major one. She is no longer able to do hard work, and with Bater also disabled, their lives are in jeopardy. The practical and survival-minded Tuya must now amicably divorce Bater, so that she can find a new husband who will take care of her and her two children. Given that she is a relatively pretty woman, that she is strong, kind, and principled, the suitors are soon lining up. If Tuya is a catch, her hand in marriage comes with another sort of catch: her new husband must be willing to take care of poor Bater. This diminishes the number of interested parties considerably. Unwilling to compromise, unwilling to abandon Bater, but unable to continue hauling a camel-load of well water ten miles every day, Tuya makes the best decision she can. No longer concerned with her own happiness, Tuya does what is best for her children and for her dear Bater. The film is told mostly as one long continuous flashback, and it closes the same way it opened: with a scene of Tuya, at her wedding, committed to what she believes is the best course of action for everyone involved, even if her decision is the one that makes her personally the least happy. Setting this film in the remoteness of Mongolia, only underscores the basic human truth that all of us have essentially the same problems. Perhaps urban dwellers in the Western world have no sheep to manage or no wells to dig, but the basic instinct to sacrifice our own personal happiness for the sake of survival - or the survival of our loved ones - is universal. Tuya's sacrifice has echoes that can be heard and understood by everyone.
Video
Aspect ratio is 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen. Cinematographer Lutz Reitemeier uses the full screen to illustrate the wide expanse of the Mongolian wasteland. The film seems to have been shot in perpetual twilight; there never seems to be a sun shining. The bluish cast of dusk only serves to underline Tuya's perpetual mood of cheerless resignation. The image is clean, compression problems are minimal. Running time is 1:31:30, divided up into 19 chapters.
Audio
Audio tracks for "Tuya's Marriage" are in the original Mandarin Dolby Digital 5.1, with optional English subtitles. Audio is acceptable for most of the show, but I was disappointed to discover that the left channel cuts out completely a few times during a hospital scene, about twenty minutes into the film. Sounds like a loose cable somewhere, but it is definitely on the disc.
Extras
The only extras on this disc is are a still gallery, plus bonus trailers for: - "OSS117" which runs for 1 minute 39 seconds. - "Tell No One" which runs for 1 minute 44 seconds.
Overall
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