Impermanence

圣山村谜局

China, 2021, colour, 16:9, 82 mins.

Director: Tashi Tsegyal 扎西才加.

Rating: 5/10.

First Tibetan whodunit makes natural use of its village setting but runs out of plot too early on.

STORY

Shengshan village, near Chengdou [Qamdo] town, eastern Tibet province, China, the present day, winter. One evening a couple, Wangdui (Pingcuo Zhaxi) and his wife Deji (Luobu Zhuoga), are trying to hide a body when there is a knock at the door. It’s Wangdui’s younger brother, who’s been waiting all day for him; Deji says Wangdui is not at home and sends him away. Day Three 第三天. The body of Zhaba (Zhala), Wangdui’s onetime rival for the hand of Deji, is discovered on the edge of the village where his motorbike has fallen into a moutainside gully. The local lamas are informed and the body is laid out for formal rituals. Wangdui comes and inspects the corpse as it lies there. As he died on Sunday the 29th, in a “dark” month, the head lama decrees that Zhaba cannot receive a sky burial; instead his body will be wrapped in shrouds and taken to a spot behind the mountain with a good view. Day Four 第四天. As Zhaba’s swathed body is put into position, it accidentally falls of the cliffside, the shrouds unravelling on the way. Then the two lamas and their assistants see a naked man running away from the foot of the mountain. Jiacuo (Gongbu Langja), one of the assistants, reports the event to the villagers. That night the villagers board up their houses against the “zombie” outside. The local Party cadre, Gao Xiaowen (Jiang Pengpeng), who is in Chengdou for a meeting, is also informed by her assistant Xiaopang (Tudeng Gesang); she says she’ll be back in the morning. Day Five 第五天. The “vampire” has been found in the village and covered with shrouds. Gao Xiaowen inspects it and afterwards Xiaopeng says he saw Wangdui arguing with Zhaba on the day in question, so it’s likely he pushed him off the road to his death, especially as Zhaba ws drunk and everyone knew the two were enemies. Gao Xiaowen says she needs proof, not speculation. Gao Xiaowen, Xiaopang, Jiacuo and herdsman Zhaxi (Tudeng) go the bottom of the cliff where Zhaba’s shrouded body fell. They find some clothing there. Afterwards, Xiaopang tries to contact village head Basang (Suolang Ciren) via the latter’s wife (Zhaxi Yangzong), but even she can’t reach him. Day One 第一天. After winning big at an all-night gambling session in Chengdou, Basang tells Zhaba, one of his men, he’ll have dinner with him that evening. The same evening Wangdui, who works in Chengdou as a hotel security guard, has dinner with a group of old friends, some of whom tell him he doesn’t treat Deji well, always keeping her at home in the village. After an evening carousing with his boss Basang, Zhuoba says he’ll give him a lift back to the village the next day on his motorbike. Day Two 第二天. Basang and Zhaba arrive in the village; the latter is still drinking. Basang goes to a meeting with Gao Xiaowen on official business, while Zhuoba goes home, insults his wife, and goes off drunk on his motorbike to collect some money he’s owed. Jiacuo sees him ride past on the mountain road. Day Five 第五天. Xiaopang discovers the clothing at the foot of the mountain belongs to a young herdsman, Dawa (Laque), who tells them his story. And when the team finds a severed leg, Gao Xiaowen finally calls in the police.

REVIEW

The first attempt at a whodunit set in Tibet province, Impermanence 圣山村谜局 is watchable thanks to its rarity value but the plotting doesn’t really go the distance. Creatively produced by the one-man godfather of Tibetan art cinema, Pema Tseden 万玛才旦, this first feature by Tibet-born Tashi Tsegyal 扎西才加, a Beijing Film Academy graduate in his early 40s, thankfully avoids the former’s mannerisms (The Silent Holy Stones 静静的嘛呢石, 2005; Old Dog 老狗, 2010; The Sacred Arrow 五彩神箭, 2014) in favour of a natural storytelling style. But the whole enterprise – which also lists veteran Beijing film-maker Tian Zhuangzhuang 田壮壮 as an advisor – is let down by too many easy stereotypes and a plot that becomes repetitive after the first hour. At RMB4.5 million, box office was reasonable for such a specialised item.

Tashi Tsegyal, who co-wrote the screenplay with Luoji 洛吉, has a couple of tricks up his sleeve, initially starting the film with a dark screen as a married couple try to hide a body and are interrupted by someone at the door. After the main titles the action then jumps to “Day Three” as a body is discovered on the edge of the village and, when accorded a mountainside burial, falls off the edge with its shrouds unravelling as it goes. When a naked man is seen running away from the spot where it fell, a superstition grows in the village that a “zombie” is at large. Halfway through, the script then doubles back in time.

The film has considerable fun mixing up rural beliefs, religious ritual, village scandal (the dead man was once a “love rival” to the married couple), local corruption and Party supervision into a stew of suspicion. And unlike many Mainland whodunits, the solution is cleverly arrived at and respects some of the basic rules of the genre (which is not a part of popular fiction in the way it is in some western countries). Where it falls down is in running out of plot developments too early – Impermanence would lose nothing by being an hour-long featurette – and in over-relying on stereotypes like the village head and his preening wife.

That said, performances are characterful down the line, and not least by Han actress Jiang Pengpeng 姜鹏鹏 as the sensible local cadre, sidestepping the usual cliches. Photography by Mi Shengshi 米盛世 has no special look but makes interesting use of the rural setting without wallowing in the visual opportunities. Compared with the pretentious English title, the film’s Chinese one means “The Puzzle of Shengshan [Sacred Mountain] Village”.

CREDITS

Presented by Sichuan Nayi Pictures (CN), Xizang Wajiala Culture Communication (CN), Linzhi Aliguli Culture Communication (CN). Produced by Xinzang Wajiala Culture Communication (CN), Linzhi Aliguli Culture Communication (CN).

Script: Tashi Tsegyal, Luoji. Photography: Mi Shengshi. Editing: Wang Peng. Music: Yang Yong. Art direction: Tsegyal, Lao Mi. Sound: Dong Tianxing. Advice: Tian Zhuangzhuang.

Cast: Pingcuo Zhaxi (Wangdui), Luobu Zhuoga (Deji, Wangdui’s wife), Jiang Pengpeng (Gao Xiaowen, local cadre), Tudeng Gesang (Xiaopang, Gao Xiaowen’s assistant), Suolang Ciren (Basang), Zhala (Zhaba), Bao Zhigang (Deji’s mute elder brother), Gongbu Langjia (Jiacuo), Zhaxi Yangzong (Basang’s wife), Jiang Can (Jiang Can, dinner friend), Laque (Dawa, young herdsman), Bianba Zhaxi (Jiacuo’s secretary), Silang Zhuoga (Zhuoga), Tudeng (Zhaxi, herdsman).

Release: China, 1 Apr 2021.