Sundance may be over, but we are still wading through the several films we had the honor of seeing. These next two films are wildly different – one is a silent cinematic meditation set in the remote trails of the Annapurna Mountains while the other is a whacky apocalyptic comedy that satirically covers the boisterous digital age that we dwell in. It was quite a ride and transition seeing these two on the same day, but I felt that both films captured a paradox of our modern society.
The Mountains Are A Dream That Call to Me (Cedric Cheung-Lau)
The Mountains Are a Dream That Call to Me is a quiet, abstract, and visual piece that certainly tests the patience of many. It’s a film grounded in the moment. With minimal dialogue and shockingly long still shots, it certainly pulls us away from constant chatter and noise of our digital world (and the loud noise of festival going!).
Part of Sundance’s NEXT category, this film is a feature debut by director and writer Cedric Cheung-Lau who has had an impressive resume as a lighting technician for renown films such as A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014) and Obvious Child (2014) – both of which premiered at Sundance. Cheung-Lau takes us into a metaphysical space and time up in Nepal’s gorgeous Annapurna Mountains. His film follows two travelers who meet on the trail. Hannah (Alice Cummins) is an elderly Australian woman who is trekking on her own, and Tukten (Sanjaya Lama) is a Nepali man and porter who is headed to Dubai for a chef job.
Their encounter leads to a subtle, soft, and meditative relationship comprised of sparse and quiet conversations. Very little is said between the two, but we can tell that they are both grappling with things in their life that they are hoping to find solace in on the trail. Tukten is clearly hesitant about his future in Dubai and accompanies Hannah to delay his plans.
When Hannah asks him why he decided to go with her, he simply tells her it’s because he had a feeling. She responds how simple that is and this is really what the film highlights – viewing and experiencing life in raw and simple terms in the tranquil presence of nature.
Solemn in narrative and cinematography, the film envelopes us in an alarmingly transcendent experience. With gorgeously vast shots of the Annapurnas and Nepali towns and mystic bells ringing in the background, the film challenges us to really examine and listen to what’s right in front of us. The Annapurnas plays a central character in the film alongside Hannah and Tukten, sometimes even more so than the travelers that the film feels a bit like a documentary.
Cinematographer Jake Magee does a phenomenal job capturing the vast beauty and might of the Nepali mountains. His wide shots of the terrain craft an infinite experience that lifts us out of our comfort zone. Hannah and Tukten are often ant-sized in these monumental shots, conveying how humanity can be a mere minuscule fragment of the entire universe. The opening scene in particular leaves us awestruck with a slow burning pan across the tops of the mountains to the moon.
Stillness is a pretty rare occurrence in today’s rapidly evolving and tech-centric world. And in many ways, this is a nice escape from the dialogue-filled narratives that we often see and hear. Though the silent meditation is admirable, many times, the narrative feels far too thin and far too abstract and broad that it leaves us rather empty-handed. While the scenes are visually striking, often times, they linger longer than necessary that the transcendence sputters.
Despite the large void in its narrative, The Mountains Are a Dream that Call to Me is clearly an ambitious production, and Cheung-Lau impressively and gorgeously brings his vision to life. It’s mysticism, abstractism, and otherworldliness certainly made this a distinctive film in the festival. And we can certainly appreciate the way the film provides a getaway from our loud and tech-centric lives.
Save Yourselves! (Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson)
A stark contrast from the stillness of the Annapurnas is Save Yourselves! – a zany satire that hilariously pokes fun at the tech-obsessed culture of millennials and the ways in which we desperately seek respite from the powerful forces of our screens. Having crafted the delightfully bizarre dance sketch comedy, Snowy Bing Bongs, director Alex Huston Fischer is at it again, co-writing and directing with Eleanor Wilson in this survival sci-fi comedy that brings ethanol-hungry “poufs” aliens and bottles of wine for protection.
Su (Sunita Mani) and Jack (John Reynolds) are a hip Brooklyn couple in their early thirties who, like many millennials, are attached to their phones and screens. They decide to go offline for a week at their friend’s remote cabin, and through this experience, they hope to share more authentic experiences with one another. The couple amusingly tries to dive into wholesome activities such as building campfires, canoeing, and sharing their deepest secrets. But little do they know that the world is being attacked by aliens.
These aliens, or fuzzy “poufs” as the central characters call them, are deceptive creatures that look like innocuous living room decor. Their long tongues stretch far and suck the living blood out of humans, killing them almost instantly. It’s all very amusing and Fischer and Wilson don’t try to hide the absurdity behind their universe and the apocalypse.
In fact, behind all of this absurdity, lies the ironic coexistence behind our culture – an attachment and need for the internet and the longing to find respite from all things digital.
Fischer and Wilson are great at expressing the mighty ways technology harnesses our social and personal lives. The progression of our lives is so dependent on technology; we are so used to having information available on our fingertips that Su and Jack need their phones to survive.
The filmmakers righteously poke fun at the hipster culture with characters like Blake (John Early) bragging about having a low-carbon honeymoon and Su and Jack’s dreams of planting a garden and going vegetarian to be better people. The film brews relevant social commentary that Fischer and Wilson cleverly flesh out on screen.
Mani, who is known for her role in the Netflix show, GLOW, and Reynolds, who had a prominent role on the reputable show, Search Party, really make this film. They have brilliant chemistry that is definitely needed for such an eccentric story and universe. Moreover, they’re both talented comedians who instill their characters with just the right dose of energy that helps us stay rooted in their idiosyncratic journey.
Though the ending feels a bit underdeveloped, there’s a charm and goofiness to it that meshes well with the style of Fischer and Wilson. Just like Snowy Bing Bongs, we don’t really need to make full sense of the universe before us. It’s a whacky, dorky, and delightful apocalypse comedy that charms its way up into space. Save Yourselves! is the comedy of the millennial generation.
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