In Brief
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
MONGOLIAN PING PONG
unrated, 102 minutes
Directed by Ning Hao, who’s making a career out of selling an exoticized China to the world via ponderous art films, “Mongolian Ping Pong” gets a lot of mileage out of confronting the supposedly simple folk of the Mongolian steppes with things like television, ping-pong, and copies of Elle magazine.The story contains few surprises, save a great joke in the last shot that nearly rescues the whole thing.
On the wide open grasslands of Mongolia, young Bilike finds a ping-pong ball floating down the river. Never having seen such a thing in his life, he decides that it’s a Heavenly Pearl, then buries it when the charm refuses to do magic for him and his friends. But, after catching some ping-pong on a television broadcast, they realize that it’s the “national ball,” dig it up, and try to return it to Beijing. They don’t succeed.
The scenery is beautiful but the cinematographer seems to miss every interesting shot, and the film makes the wide open Mongolian steppes look no more dynamic than a Midtown office. There’s plenty of grass on view, but this movie is about as exciting as watching it grow.
