THE CUP (Fine Line) Starring: Orgyen Tobgyal, Jamyang Lodro, Lama Chonjor, Neten Chokling, Kunsang Nyima, Pema Tshundup. Screenplay: Khyentse Norbu. Producers: Malcolm Watson and Raymond Steiner. Director: Khyentse Norbu MPAA Rating: G. Running Time: 93 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
I mean no disrespect to the burgeoning Bhutanese film industry when I suggest that being selected as the Bhutanese representative for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar doesn't automatically qualify as an impressive achievement. In fact, THE CUP is the first ever film selected as an Academy Award candidate from Bhutan, made by a revered Buddhist teacher making his first film. It's understandable that THE CUP would warrant some unique attention on this basis. The question is whether anyone would be paying much attention to THE CUP if it didn't happen to offer a unique cultural perspective.
It's always tough to say, but I'm guessing not. There are certainly some charms in this fact-based bit of whimsy, set in 1998 at a Tibetan Buddhist monastery-in-exile. The monastery's leaders are awaiting two new arrivals as the film begins, brothers attempting to make the escape from occupied Tibet. When they finally do arrive, Palden (Kunsang Nyima) and Nyima (Pema Tshundup) find the young monks-in-training are currying a passion for something more than Buddhist teachings: the ongoing World Cup soccer tournament. The young monk Orgyen (Jamyang Lodro) has taken to sneaking into town after dark to watch BBC satellite broadcasts, but when he and some fellow monks are caught by chief disciplinarian Geko (Orgyen Tobgyal), it looks like no one will be seeing the final match -- unless the abbot (Lama Chonjor) grants their request to rent a television to watch the match in the monastery.
There's no denying that THE CUP may be worth seeing simply for its sociology lesson. The monastery is depicted not as a relentlessly somber place, but as a sort of boarding school with boys who will be boys no matter their national origin (passing notes during prayers, sewing another boy's robe to a mat, scribbling nationalist graffiti on the monastery walls). American films with Tibetan Buddhist themes -- SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET and KUNDUN -- have often seemed to be so concerned with telling the story of an important political issue that the personal side has been lost. It is certainly refreshing to see a story in which Tibetan people are seen as people, and not merely as martyrs.
And then one moves past that humanizing appeal, and doesn't find a whole lot more. Writer/director Khyentse Norbu understands his people, but he has a lot to learn about structuring a narrative. Even at only 93 minutes, THE CUP drags along towards the monks' eventual efforts to gather enough money to rent the television and satellite dish, then try to get the whole apparatus working. It's worth a few chuckles to see the monks trying to navigate the technology; it's considerably less entertaining watching the film meander, dabbling in the crowd-pleasing qualities of shadow puppets and a sort of "Gift of the Magi" sub-plot involving Orgyen and a younger monk's beloved keepsake.
The pacing of THE CUP may be perfectly representative of the culture from which it originates, just as the story itself may be perfectly representative. I find myself leaning towards a recommendation simply because it showed me something I didn't know before, which is one of the reasons I love film in the first place. There's just not much substance to THE CUP worth getting enthusiastic over, unless the mere notion of Tibetan monks playing pranks and watching soccer is enough of a hilarious incongruity to carry your viewing experience. The amateur cast and rookie director can't make the film soar on its own terms. Khytentse Norbu might have been better served making a documentary about life among young Tibetan monks ... or about making Bhutan's first Oscar contender.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 protective cups: 6.
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