hyped garbage

Fantastic!

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

The movie really seemed promising - an average Joe in a Bhutanese village falls under the spell of America and opportunity and sets off on a journey toward a different life. Along the way, he meets a monk who lectures him on 'the grass isn't always greener on the other side' and a farmer and his young daughter who may give him reason to stay.The idea seemed promising. The main character, I found really annoying. So incredibly foolish, truly believing the hype of America. I suppose there's something to say about how the things we are captivated by are very often things we are the most ignorant of.But at the same time, I didn't find the small village life appealing, either. Perhaps I'm outgrowing my Buddhist interests and am starting to not quite agree with Buddhist philosophy, not anymore. I'll spare the rant. I don't necessarily disagree (I do think the main character was really stupid), just that there's more to living in this world than thinking so black and white. You can't summarize happiness into a philosophical debate. But oh well.Story wise, I enjoyed the sub-story of the student wandering into the woods to find a beautiful woman and her overprotective old husband, but felt that it took up too much time from the main story that it somewhat took away that story's strength. The movie ended way before I felt it should have. The conflict was just barely starting to develop, when the movie ended. Good stories require a protagonist who is met with a dilemma, and handles it in either a foolish or a wise way. Perhaps this protagonist handled it in a foolish way, but I was hoping for some sort of transformation, that the guy was more than just some fool ready to believe American media propaganda. However, I felt that the conflict did not reach a climax to really portray his bad decision. It almost felt like the story ended before he was even really truly contemplating the dilemma.Honestly, I would have left too, despite the girl. I don't think going to America would solve all the protagonists problems. I don't think there is one single panacea to our unhappiness. However, I do think that living a stale, isolated, dull life can very much be a large part of our unhappiness. My perspective is that when things don't change in our lives, we lose our passion, our joy. We depend too much on others for everything, and no matter what that means, we'll be unhappy at some point, never truly satisfied. My perspective is that true happiness is a life of curiosity, adventure, experimentation, travel, learning, creativity, sharing within community, and mastery of survival and living. There's no one thing or place that can make us happy. And that means not even where we are, this supposed place that is 'good enough' because it's handed to us. Even in the simplest and least industrialized of societies, there still are rigid social structures and lifestyles that tear away at our freedom. Happiness comes in being capable of handling life's challenges, and being given many challenges. Variety and diversity, met with gusto. And maybe loving each other along the way. Too much tradition, superstition, culture - that can easily get in our way of being truly free. I don't think that we as individuals were ever meant/designed to do just one thing with our time. Perhaps division of labor is more the root of our unhappiness than 'craving' or 'desire'. Perhaps when we divide our tasks and specialize in doing one or two things, we leave ourselves dependent upon others for the entirety of our survival - and in the process, find ourselves at their mercy, helpless, powerless. We never truly see the power within ourselves, what we are truly capable of, how well we can thrive in life if we have some intelligence and creativity.

Before seeing the movie, I was hoping for a thought-provoking and somewhat unique plot. I was very disappointed. Others may be turned off by the slow story-telling, lack of action, or even the cultural perspective, but my dissatisfaction lies somewhere else.**spoilers** **spoilers** **spoilers** The concept of a materialistic person who goes through changes is interesting to me. However, for change to have come THAT quick (from hearing a story too) is just plain unreal. The monk was wise, and the main character definitely should have listened (which he did for the most part), but such an obsession with opportunity does not go away so simply, contrary to what was portrayed in the movie.Movie-wise, the film focused too much on the monk's story, which wasn't even a good one or very relevant. It was dragged out way too long. Also, having the same actress from the monk's story also appear in the real world was unnecessary, complicating and pointless.Simply put, I guess I was disappointed in the fact that the main character changed his mind so quickly and by using so little information. Not having him explain why he changed his mind doesn't help either.

A friend of mine from Bhutan borrowed this movie to me. Yes "borrowed"... not given to me, after all it is such a lovely movie to add it on your collection. Though Bhutan is not known for movie making and all, but this will surely leave a question in your head and you are sure going to say..."WOW, NOT BAD AT ALL". I must say that this movie is far better than thousands of Bollywood movies. The direction is superb and the cinematic beauties of Bhutan added a lot of charismatic on this film. All the actors really acted well, realistic down to the core. I really love this movie, the way it unwinds the story, and the way the characters enter story is awesome. The little of humors here and there adds lots of value to it. And not to forget, the utterance of wisdoms by the monk are so realistic that one will surely illuminate his or her ignorance. A must watch movie for those who love "good movie". Thumps up and hats off to the team.

In this, his second film, Khyentse Norbu shows how skilled a filmmaker he really is. An ordained lama, he studied independent film-making in New York and here it really pays off. While his first film, The Cup, was a well done portrait of life in Bhutan, Travellers and Magicians is that and much more. Taking his cue from, among other works, the great Ju Dou by Zhang Yimou, Norbu gives us a village official who longs for the excitement and money to be had in America.Sporting shiny white new athletic shoes, the official makes his way to the main road where he tries to catch a bus to Thimbu, first stop on his journey. But he misses the bus and soon meets up with an interesting assortment of fellow travelers--an old apple seller, a monk, and a farmer with his beautiful daughter. While waiting for the bus--or anyone driving who can give any or all of them a ride--they're entertained by the monk who tells a tale of a young apprentice magician who loses his way in a large forest and comes upon an old man and his much younger wife.Norbu intercuts the ongoing tale with different legs of the travelers' journey on the seemingly endless road. The editing chops on display here are truly impressive, marking this as the work of a director who really knows how to make a film grab the viewer. We see the young magician lying in bed at night, thinking only of the young wife, and dissolve to the official waking up in the morning, having no doubt thought of the farmer's daughter much of the night.This is much more than great editing; it gives us strong links between how we live our lives and how we imagine our lives should be lived. The tales we tell, the ones we remember, are those that inform how we feel we should or could do what we're not doing now. It's our memory of another story--what we read long ago, or what someone told us long ago--that gives us the unofficial subconscious laws we live by. That's what Norbu tells us in this great film.A giant leap forward from The Cup, Travellers and Magicians is a first class cinematic work that should be seen by many.Highly recommended.