Take Out and Mongol

I want to write a few words about two films that I saw today. Time is always the problem so the reviews will be brief.

Take Out is a very good (but low budget) film about a Chinese take out delivery man.
The film is directed by Sean Baker and Shih-Chang Tsou. Charles Jang plays the lead Ming - a man who has a price on his head. Ming owes money to some loan sharks. He borrowed the money so he could pay back his family in China who paid for him to be smuggled illegally into the US. He has only 24 hours to get the money or else.

The film is very interesting because we get to see how a Chinese take out restaurant operates. I can only say that I have no desire to eat this food. It is not healthy.
But the presentation of the restaurant is very realistic. And so is the portrayal of the people that Ming delivers to. The film is set in NYC and I can tell you that these people do exist. The directors used hand held cameras and that truly heightened the experience. Take Out tells us a story that is happening everyday to people who most of us never even think about. Maybe it is time for us to be more aware of them and offer up some compassion.

Mongol, directed by Sergei Bodrov, is a real epic. Earlier this year it was nominated for an Oscar in the Foreign Film category. It is the story of the early life of Genghis Khan. His birth name was Tamudjin. When he is a young boy he sees his father die of poisoning right in front of his eyes. At the age of nine he already has enemies. His life is one long fight. His father died on the way back from Tamudjin picking his future wife. He was supposed to pick one from a certain clan but immediately recognizes that Borte is the one for him when he and his people make a rest stop. Actually, Borte picks him.

But Tamudjin must overcome many obstacles before he and Borte are reunited. And even after that there are many trials including him being imprisoned and sold into slavery.

Bodrov (Prisoner of the Mountains) is a master filmmaker. The cinematography is spectacular. The acting is all top of the line. The older Tamudjin is played by Tadanobu Asano and the older Borte is played by Khulan Chuluun. The film shows us that while Genghis Khan might have been a tyrant who wanted to take over the world he also had principles. He is not painted as someone who is only evil. This is the first part of a trilogy about Khan and I look forward to parts two and three.

Of note - the film is very violent but it is much more than that (it is a real love story). I was wondering about the animals in the film but mention was made at the end of the film that no animals were harmed during the making of the film.