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MONGOLIAN PING PONG
Directed by: Ning Hao.
Produced by: Lu Bin & He Bu.
Written by: Ning Hao, Xing Aina & Gao Jianguo.
Director of Photography: Du Jie.
Edited by: Jiang Yong.
Music by: Wuhe.
Released by: First Run.
Language: Mongolian with English subtitles.
Country of Origin: China. 102 min. Not Rated.
With: Huricha Bilike, Dawa & Geliban.

A ping pong ball, found floating in a stream, becomes the source of wonderment for three best friends on the Mongolian plains. Bilike (Huricha Bilike), the ball’s discoverer, assumes it’s a bird’s egg, before convincing his friends it belonged to the spirits up the river. His wizened grandmother proclaims it is a glowing pearl. Not convinced, they take the ball to monks, who remain silent.

When the family of one of the boys gets the only TV for miles around, which was traded for livestock, the boys not only see ping pong but hear it described as the national sport. Feeling concerned that the nation must be very worried about its treasure, which is in their safekeeping, the boys decide they must return the ball to Beijing.

Based on this description your teeth may be now be hurting, but director Ning Ho’s approach is closer to Robert Flaherty than Steven Spielberg, as in 2004’s The Story of the Weeping Camel, which was also filmed in Mongolia and centered on a nomadic herding family fronted by nonprofessional actors. Unlike the rambling and loose Camel, Mongolian Ping Pong’s story kicks in almost immediately. Ping Pong is less vérité and more story-driven (although at times obviously staged, with the young cast dutifully following direction).

Scenes are made up of static shots with few close-ups of the children. It’s as though the camera is a fly on a horse’s flank. And a sense of humor that’s more droll than precocious also dilutes the potential saccharine quotient. As a result, the film’s sly charms sneak up on you, if the beautiful and frequently breathtaking vistas of the wind-swept steppes haven’t gotten to you first. It’s appropriate the original Chinese title was Green Greenlands – they upstage the actors in almost every frame. Kent Turner
April 21, 2006