Dir/Wri: Xiaoxuan Jiang | Malaysia, US, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, 2024, 98′,
Struggling with power cuts, drought and hostile weather out on the snowy steppe, Saina, a divorced Mongolian horseman, makes a meagre living between country and city in a gruelling schedule. During the day he tends a flock of sheep and horses on his ranch. Nighttime sees him back in the city performing horseback routines to finance his father’s gambling debts and raise his son. Unlike the proud cavalryman he portrays in the show, Saina realises his traditional way of life is no longer tenable, forcing him to sell his flock of sheep, but keep the horses. The future for animals is also bleak.
Saina’s daily struggle very much connects to a global narrative of survival for small communities all over the world keen to carry on the ancient way of life of those that went before them while keeping pace with the modern world. The disintegration of the family unit is part of the problem he faces: his ex-wife has left for a better job in the city and is more demanding, his father is also giving him grief. The life he grew up in has dramatically changed.
In her first feature, a sensitive snapshot of masculinity in crisis, Xiaoxuan Jiang contrasts Saina’s ‘glamourised’ life under the bright lights on the big arena, all decked out in vibrant traditional costume, with the gruelling days managing animals on the windswept plains.
What shines through here is a fabulous human interest story. And the film’s stunning cinematography, captured on the widescreen and in intimate close-up, helps us experience it all like a native. It often feels like we’re actually part of the action. All this is in stark contrast to modern life in the big city with all the usual ‘mod cons’. An impressive and intelligent study of masculinity caught between the future and the past. @MeredithTaylor
VENICE FILM FESTIVAL | VENICE DAYS 2024