Movie Review: 37/三十七

I was invited to a screening of Dennis Chan’s  37/三十七 by the director.

He knows what I do, but he invited me anyway.  

“I’m not scared of him!”

37/三十七 tells the story of an urbanite woman and her daughter who end up in Mongolia.   From very early on, it becomes obvious that this is a classic fish out of water premise. But there’s also a whole lot more.  Based on a true story about a youth choir in Mongolia, the movie follows the growth of an introverted, emotionally defensive little girl and her astoundingly uptight mother.   *****The little girl is played by Lin Miao Ke, who lip-synched at the Beijing Olympics.*   The worst thing about her performance is something she can’t help: she’s almost unbearably cute.   She’s so cute it kept taking me out of the movie.

That’s my fault, because she’s actually a good actress too. She plays her role well, and I think she’ll have no problem with a long-term career.   Speaking of which, Charlie Yeung also does a great job in her role, as a germophobic, impatient urbanite. Her character is essentially an archetype, but Charlie Yeung carries it off so well that she can breathe a lot of life into it.

The same can be said of the scrīpt’s handling of the premise. What struck me about this story was the absolute potential reality it’s grounded in.

Charlie Yeung is told that her trip will involve a set schedule of events. When she arrives, all of that gets thrown out the window and she’s stuck.

From what I hear, that happens a lot in China.

Hell, it even happens in Hong Kong.

From what I’ve read.

If you end up in the Hulun Buir Grasslands in Mongolia, you’re 100 miles past the middle of nowhere.

And I’ve met enough people like Charlie Yeung’s character that I know they would behave exactly the same way. Part of what makes her performance so impressive is watching her literally and figuratively squirm with discomfort, because she’s (initially) such an unpleasant person that we’re glad to see her suffer.  I don’t know, maybe that’s just me.  I really enjoyed looking at this movie for a couple of reasons.  Any movie filmed on location in Mongolia will look amazing by default; the views are breathtaking, and so all you need to do is capture it.  Even so, the cinematography in 37/三十七 is a lot more than that.  *****It captures not only the scenery but the characters and the settings.  37/三十七 is visually beautiful and technically polished. It shows Mongolia as both a beautiful and rugged place, and does it very well. * *****If nothing else, this movie looks fantastic considering it’s budget wouldn’t cover the catering on a Hollywood movie.*

I really enjoyed this movie for reasons both educational and entertaining.   One thing I liked is the way it makes a possible fault into a strength.

For decades, Hollywood has produced movies about how (white) people somehow find themselves, or find redemption, or learn earthy, profound life lessons from Others with a capital O.  

Dances with Wolves,

Eat Pray Love,

The Green White Mile,

The Last Scientologist,

Dances with Smurfs…

People like screenwriter John Fusco have made a career out of it.

And looked like a douche doing it.

So to see that kind of storyline used outside of Hollywood actually made me happy.  What made me even happier is that 37/三十七 handles the story with a lot more finesse and respect than Hollywood ever has.  Dennis Chan makes his points implicitly, and doesn’t belabor them.

Even when the film touches on the inherent politics of language and ethnicity, it does so in a way that really impressed me.  It’s nice to see a movie with a message that doesn’t beat you over the head with it.

I don’t say this about many movies, but 37 is definitely one of them: 

This movie deserves a lot better than to have me talk about it.

This film isn’t available on DVD, but it is available online thanks to LeTV. It doesn’t have English subtitles, just Chinese ones. When I saw the film last week, obviously it had English subs, so I am sure that if there’s a DVD release it will have them.  I want to thank Dennis Chan for the opportunity to watch this movie. I really enjoyed it, and it affected me more than I’d be comfortable admitting. Even though I just did.