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The Cave of the Yellow
Dog
Directed by: Byambasuren Davaa
Starring: The Batchuluun Family
Genre:
Foreign/Independent
Run Time: 93
min.
Release Date:
October 2006
On The Web:
Official
Site
Teaser:
Movie Trailer
Reviewed by
Byron Merritt |
Picturesque and unbridled,
THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG is Mongolian in the extreme. More of a
stream of consciousness in terms of style, The Cave of the Yellow Dog’s
director, Byambasuren Davaa, gives us her second feature length film
that has the look and feel of a wayward docudrama but gives us a story
that materializes by happenstance (her first being the well-done
THE STORY
OF THE WEEPING CAMEL).
Watching the extra features on the DVD gives one the insights you’ll
need to understand Ms. Davaa’s style of filming. No script. No actors.
Just real people doing real lines ...for the most part. The only “story”
that weaves its way in is that of the yellow dog and his cave, revealed
by an old crone who lives near our Mongolian family’s current location.
The family is the Batchuluun family, a husband, wife, a mischievous (and
very young) son, a young daughter, and another daughter — the eldest —
Nansal. It is Nansal who we get to know best as she returns from school
in “the city” to her family’s nomadic grounds in mountainous western
Mongolia. The panoramic shots of the surrounding countryside are
achingly beautiful, with fiery sunsets, Grand Canyon-sized valleys, and
hillocks of grazing lands mixed with flowering blooms. The topography is
often more interesting than the story itself, which meanders hither and
thither; from children playing ...to working the farm to finding a
not-yellow dog in a nearby cave.
The puppy that Nansal finds is the culmination of what should have been
the film’s central point. Her obsession over the dog and befriending it
causes a rift between Nansal and her father, who doesn’t want the dog to
attract prowling packs of wolves to their homestead and their goat herd.
Nansal loses interest in everything but the pup, even going so far as to
not pay attention to the family herd and, eventually, to lose sight of
her young brother whom she’s supposed to be keeping an eye on. When
Nansal stumbles upon an old lady living in a distant yurt, she learns
the story of what can happen when someone finds a dog in a cave
(although the old lady’s story-dog was yellow and Nansal’s is black and
white ...and named Spot.) ... I won’t say anymore, though, for fear of
giving away what could be considered the “plot.”
Getting back to the extra features...
Director Davaa all but admits that they really had no plan on what to
film, just taking it day-by-day and letting the story unfold as it may.
So what became an actual plot developed by accident, which I find a bit
irritating and refreshing. What if the plot hadn’t developed and all
we’d gotten were glimpses into the life of a western Mongolian family? I
can’t help but think that this would’ve been disastrous for the film.
But, thankfully, the story DID come through and we get something unique
and pretty darned original.
(back to top) |
Image from The Cave of the
Yellow Dog
DVD cost: $15.86
Purchase:
Tower.com
Film Review Stew
Favorite? No.
Stew Poo-Poo? No.
Newsworthy:
Filmed entirely on
location in western Mongolia.
Movie Quote: "Stop
it. You can't play with God."
Other Actors/Actresses
from The Cave of the Yellow Dog
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