Сэр сэр салхи 「Sèr sèr salkhi」
シティ・オブ・ウインド 「Shiti Ob Uindo」
Release Date: August 31st, 2024
Duration: 103 mins.
Director: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir
Writer: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir (Screenplay),
Starring: Tergel Bold-Erdene (Ze), Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba (Maralaa), Anu-Ujin Tsermaa (Oyu), Bulgan Chuluunbat (Ze’s Mother), Ganzorig Tsetsgee (Ze’s Father), Myagmarnaran Gombo (Grandpa Neighbour)
Writer and director Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s The City of Wind is her debut feature film. It is a perfectly crafted coming-of-age story that’s designed to give audiences a snapshot of the various influences on contemporary Mongolian youth. Working with themes such as tradition vs modernity, spirituality vs consumerism, community vs individuality, she clearly and concisely shows various influences on teens through setting and the character’s facticity and, all the while, her work never strains credibility.
It’s the final year of high school for Ze (Tergel Bold-Erdene), a 17-year-old boy who also happens to be a shaman for his village. People go to him since he channels the spirits of ancestors who give advice and blessings. Diligent at school and conscientious towards his parents, older sister, and neighbours at home, he balances his responsibilities well despite earning the ribbing from classmates who poke fun at his spiritual nature. Most importantly, he believes in his power and his role.
Ze’s attitude takes a turn when he is asked to give blessings to Maralaa (Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba), the daughter of his mother’s friend. Slightly younger than him, she is about to have a heart operation but faces it with bravery. Despite his efforts, she dismisses him as a conman. In the face of her scepticism, he develops a crush on her and she awakens his desires and this precipitates Ze’s introduction to a variety of experiences.
The story that follows is worked through quite neatly via director Lkhagvadulam’s choice of location and efficient background writing for her leads.
Eschewing the typical Mongolian settings of wide plains and yurts, the story takes place in the suburbs around Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. The characters live in a somewhat shanty town-esque ring of homes within sight of the sprawling metropolis in the background. Viewers are taken there as Ze and Maralaa begin their courtship with walks and talks in the city and its malls and parks. The film invites us to pay close attention to what they say as we observe them. In these surroundings, they organically reveal ambitions. Ironically, she wants to live in the countryside (but not too far away from civilisation) while he wants a modern apartment complete with all mod-cons. She wants freedom while he loves frittering time away at malls in the embrace of materialistic dreams. Eventually, the two discover each other to be of a similar loner nature as Maralaa claims to have no friends and a rocky relationship with her parents because of the fragmentation caused by her father’s overseas work while Ze is target for the class bully due to his spiritual powers.
Due to Lkhagvadulam’s smooth introduction of surroundings and circumstance, her film avoids contrivances and slips naturally into the push-pull of physical desires in the city and rocky relations influencing Maralaa and Ze into enacting small moments of rebellion. It starts with Ze’s dyed hair, which earns him the moniker Justin Bieber, and grows to them defying teachers and parents, trying out clubbing and alcohol. The film suggests that Ze’s shamanistic powers aren’t just a put-on as Maralaa believes and they form the pivot of his struggle, too. Moral and spiritual conundrums accompany his arc but there is also a growing ability for him stand up for himself as he challenges class bullies and begins to assert himself more in the world, a place where the travails of his sister and neighbours gently guide him away from serious errors the likes of which he is smart enough to see for himself.
The film is so smoothly constructed that it glides by with ease and believability and the lead actors are bubbly and have a relaxed chemistry together. Thus, following them is enjoyable. Their character’s development goes to expected places but the joy is seeing in how effectively everything comes together. As Maralaa and Ze move into adulthood, they synthesise an answer from what they know, from the traditions he channels, to negotiating responsibilities to family and community and effectively wrestling with desires.
We get a glimpse of his future at the end of the film but throughout it all, viewers will be made confident that he will be alright. Indeed, many of the adults in the film utter their acceptance that their children can find their own path and Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir suggests the same through her leads and through one scene, the aftermath of a classroom rebellion where she makes pointed use of close-ups on the students and gives each teen character the time to look into the camera and directly at the audience. One can only read that they’ll be ready for whatever challenges emerge by looking at their faces. No melodrama, no didacticism, just characters working through issues and balancing various elements of Mongolian society. It’s a cinematic approach with no words, just visuals brimming with confidence, much like the rest of this film.
City of Wind was screened at the Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 at Cine Libre Uneda on March 02nd. It will be screened again at ABC Hall on March 10.