Mongolian Ping Pong

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?

This is such a funny, unique movie. My husband points out that it is slow, and it probably would be for people used to action movies. This is one of those movies that makes us say, "Let's find a movie like that movie to watch!" We don't own many movies, but this one is worth having because it is fun to watch again. And I hate subtitles, so that is saying something. Many little details you don't see the first times you watch it.

When a young man finds a ping pong ball, he has no idea what it is. So the ball becomes iconic. What a wonderful film.

I love this movie. It's beautiful and very slow-paced, like the life of the people it depicts.Even though I've seen it several times, I find it so relaxing to watch again, seeing something new each time.I love watching the people, but I love watching the vast expanses of Mongolian scenery even more and that is what brings me back to this movie again and again.

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.

This is not a movie about imagination, to my mind. This is a movie about how the modern world tries to strip away everything sacred. It's about the man-made artificiality that creeps into every corner of the world. Look at the TV salesman. Why a TV? Well, to feel "part" of today's world? But of course, there's the irony--because the modern person feels tiny and irrelevant. The photo spot where the city people and country people take their photos tells you so much! Ning creates the world he wants you to see and "live" in so that he can show you where you are now. All the reviewers here who labeled this as boring or slow did so because of the speed of life. Sometimes a movie can do more than depict a dystopian Gotham that makes you forget your cares for 2 hours. Sometimes a movie can show you where your soul still longs to live.

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.

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.

Wer ruhige, sanfte Filme liebt, der ist mit Filmen aus der Mongolei gut bedient. Wunderschöne Bilder von einer kargen, bezaubernden Landschaft rahmen die Handlung dieses Filmes ein. Die Handlung ist schnell erzählt, man ahnt den Ausgang. Ganz reizend sind die Kinder, die diesem Film ein besonderes Flair vermitteln. Leider ist die deutsche Übersetzung nicht optimal, die Dialoge, besonders der Kinder, sind oft ein wenig gespreizt. So reden Kinder nicht, auch nicht in der Mongolei.Trotzdem: Sehenswert.

Un grand moment de bonheur pour ce film sur la vie en Mongolie. Un enfant mongol vivant avec sa famille dans la steppe découvre une balle de ping pong dans la rivière. Elle deviendra un objet de curiosité et surtout un objet de convoitise .Les enfants partiront rendre cette balle "nationale" à Pekin mais la route est trop longue. Magnifiques images de la mongolie avec une rivière qui serpente dans la steppe sous des ciels nuageux et orageux.Des scènes mémorables quant à la séance de prise de photos de la famille, l'installation de la télévision...Il faut voir les autres films "urga", "le chien jaune de mongolie", "le chameau qui pleure" et "le mariage de Tuya" qui nous montrent la vrai vie en Mongolie sans avoir à prendre un avion.En espérant que ce peuple pourra garder ses traditions et son authenticité .

The landscape shots are amazing, making me want to travel to Mongolia to stand on the Steppe and enjoy the view and the mystical ambience of the place. An entertaining story that also shows the nomadic Mongolians living their traditional herding lifestyle even as modern China begins to find them.

Un objet méconnu s'invite et sera le vecteur du film. Une balle de Ping Pong. Elle devient l'objet de toutes les curiosités, de toutes les supputations. Quelle utilité cet objet dans les fonds de la steppe mongolienne ? Se transporter dans l'imaginaire, provoquer du rêve, aller contre les idées reçues où le mystique, le concret, le fonctionnel s'entrechoquent. Un pur délice que de suivre l'épopée de cete balle, un peu comme dans le film franco-chinois 1958 de Roger Pigaut "Le cerf-volant du bout du monde".

un vrai bonheur d'avoir ce film en dvd,je l'avais beaucoup aimé en salle.Un bémol,ce dvd était proposé en version française mais il est sous titré.Ces trois petits gars espiègles et naïfs, petits rois de cet immense territoire m'ont ravie.