Travellers And Magicians

We saw Travellers And Musicians at the Clearview Chelsea West cinemas. It's a fantastic movie set in Bhutan, directed by Khyentse Norbu (director of The Cup). The plot revolves around two tales, the outer tale of a westernized man who is determined to leave his town in Bhutan for the U.S.; the inner tale is about a boy who attempts to take something he shouldn't and the consequences, if any, of that act.

Khyentse Norbu was at the screening and took questions afterwards. It was a decidedly odd audience, a mix of film students who wanted to pepper him with all sorts of film related questions (What was it like to film in Bhutan?, What were the birds in the soundtrack? They didn't sound Bhutanese.) and questions relating to his alternate identity, Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, one of the highest incarnate lamas in the Tibetan Kagyu lineage (hat-tip Alex). Many in the audience wanted to know the deeper meaning of the stories in the film, the religious significance if any. Khyentse kept coming back to the line that it was a Bhutanese story and had no specific religious meaning, that though one could certainly read into the movie he had no specific teaching intent when making the movie.

Some of his answers on the film were enlightening and entertaining: at one point the camera was dropped during filming, though they checked it out onsite they had no way of knowing whether it was working correctly or not until they returned for post-production in Sydney; that the birds questioned above were likely samples of birds in the Sydney area; that he had to improvise a change in the story line because one of the actors (the old man) simply disappeard during filming; that this was the first time he's been able to walk and interact with the people of Bhutan as "just another guy", specifically not the Rinpoche.

Several of the actors in the film were also in attendance at the screening. Lisa went on to a reception at the Rudin Museum, I returned home to take Ms. Frisket out for her nightly perambulation.

It's a great movie...Khyentse Norbu apologized for the length and lack of car chases but as someone who is unfortunately known for falling asleep at movies and concerts, I found it quite entertaining and managed not to doze off at all (that really is meant to be a complement). Go for the story and scenery, especially if you saw Himalaya (IMDB) in 2000-2001.