Pema Tseden’s darkly comic fable confirms his evolution away from the neorealist-style narratives of his earlier films. Part–road movie, part–Tibetan Western, Jinpa is a tale of two lonely travellers, both named Jinpa. They meet on a mountain road in the Kekexili highlands on the Qinghai–Tibet plateau. One of the Jinpas (played by Pema Tseden’s go-to leading man, also named Jinpa) is a truck driver (and fancier of Neapolitan song). He is upset he has accidentally struck and killed a sheep. He picks up a second, brooding Jinpa, who announces he is on a search for the killer of his father.We follow the first Jinpa to a monastery, and then along a winding route leading him to a butcher, to his lover, and finally to a saloon presided over by a sultry barmaid (played by an incandescent Sonam Wangmo).
Eventually, as the two men’s stories, dreams, and fates intertwine, weighty moral questions of karma and compassion hang in the balance. Jinpa is produced by Hong Kong filmmaking icon Wong Kar Wai and filmed by the great DP Lü Songye in fantastically warped Academy ratio photography.
Playful, gently perplexing and distinctly stylish. Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily
Pema Tseden
Jinpa, Genden Phuntsok, Sonam Wangmo
China
2018
In Tibetan with English subtitles
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Credits
Screenwriter
Pema Tseden
Cinematography
Lu Songye
Editor
Jin Di , Chakdor Kyab
Original Music
Lim Giong & Poin
Also in This Series
Tibetan director Pema Tseden became one of the most remarkable filmmakers of this century, revolutionizing the representation of Tibet and Tibetans and sharing his visions of authentic Tibetan life with the entire film-going world by reimagining how narrative cinematic fiction could operate within so-called “Chinese minority cinema”.
The Search
Shot in exquisite long takes, this brilliant film is a road movie wrapped around three love stories. A director and crew are looking for local cast to star in their film version of the classic Tibetan opera Prince Drime Kundun.
The Silent Holy Stones
In Pema Tseden's first feature, a very young Tibetan lama living in a monastery in Qinghai discovers the delights of binge-watching a Chinese TV serial, just one aspect of the contradictions he will have to navigate in a culture steeped in tradition.
Snow Leopard
The last film Pema Tseden finished before his death at age 53 is an enthralling, semi-mystical fable about the deep spiritual connection between a young Tibetan priest and a snow leopard responsible for killing livestock belonging to the priest's brother.
First Steps: Pema Tseden Short Films
Pema Tseden was the first Tibetan director to graduate from the Beijing Film Academy. The Silent Manistone (2002) and his graduation film, The Grassland (2004) are fascinating sketches for later works.
Old Dog
In what may be Pema Tseden's darkest film, a Tibetan mastiff is sold, recovered, re-sold, stolen, and recovered yet again, passing through the hands of an ethnic Chinese dealer, the local police, and Tibetan dog rustlers.
Balloon
The young sons of virile Tibetan shepherd Dargye mistake their parents' condoms for balloons. Meanwhile Dargye is looking for a ram to impregnate his flock. Balloon is fascinated with ideas of potency, pregnancy, and the possibilities for female autonomy.
The Sacred Arrow
A romantic, gorgeously shot, widescreen modern fable, this is a marked departure from Pema Tseden's usual stye. Handsome Nyima and brooding Dradon are ace archers from rival villages who vie in an annual contest for the ultimate prize, the Sacred Arrow.