Book Reviews Reviews

Book Review: Tharlo Short Story and Film Script by Pema Tseden (2017) by Jessica Yeung and Yau Wai-ping

Fans and researchers of Pema Tseden's works will definitely have a blast with "Tharlo"

As we have dedicated much effort into watching, reading, and analyzing Pema Tseden ‘s works here in Asian Movie Pulse, this book, which offers an analysis of his titles up to “Tharlo”, the short story the script of the film was based upon, and the script itself, was perceived as a great opportunity to learn even more about this outstanding artist.

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The book starts with an introduction to the type of the analysis that follows, explaining the concepts of the palimpsest and the hypotext, essentially meaning that each work would be examined through a comparison with his previous ones. This type of analysis seems to work quite well for Pema Tseden’s oeuvre, since the connection between his works is quite evident, both due to the fact that a number of films were previously short stories, and through the recurring (types of) characters, motifs and even actors on occasion.

The book then focuses on each of his works individually, starting with a short synopsis and some trivia around the production, and then proceeding with the analysis, which is based on the aforementioned two concepts but also goes quite beyond. Through the analysis, a number of “trademarks” of the Tibetan are revealed: magical realism, his effort to avoid ethnographic sentimentalism, and the antithetical motifs of tradition and modernity, spirituality and mundanity. Furthermore, the thorough examination of a number of his characters highlights their misunderstood simplicity.

The authors then compare his writings with his movies, before proceeding to an in-depth analysis of “Tharlo”, including a comparison between the short story and the movie. The concept of mirrors and the way Pema Tseden uses them in the movie, the fact that the hairdresser is both a victim and a perpetrator and subsequently, the philosophy of “becoming a villain” emerge as some of the most interesting comments here.

The next parts include the actual short story and the movie script, providing an ideal opportunity to realize how the director transitions from one to the other, essentially highlighting the palimpsest/ hypotext approach we described previously. Furthermore, the plethora of movie stills and footage from the shooting allow the reader to realize how the script is transformed into a movie, thus providing a full picture of how Pema Tseden works, and particularly how he transforms his writing to cinema.  

The approach and implement is distinctly academic, meaning that the context is intricate and the language fitting for such level of elaborateness, although as a whole, I would not say that the texts emerge as difficult to understand, just not prone for a “light reading”, with the level of analysis justifying this aspect to the fullest. In general, in terms of readability, the book scores quite high, with the fact that the notes are, thankfully, in the bottom of each page, adding much to this trait.

Evidently, the analysis of Pema Tseden’s works could fill a tome, but the 267 pages of the book provide a great introduction to his work as a whole, while dissecting “Tharlo” fully, in the most eloquent fashion. Fans and researchers of Pema Tseden’s works will definitely have a blast with “Tharlo”.

About the author

Panos Kotzathanasis

Panagiotis (Panos) Kotzathanasis is a film critic and reviewer, specialized in Asian Cinema. He is the owner and administrator of Asian Movie Pulse, one of the biggest portals dealing with Asian cinema. He is a frequent writer in Hancinema, Taste of Cinema, and his texts can be found in a number of other publications including SIRP in Estonia, Film.sk in Slovakia, Asian Dialogue in the UK, Cinefil in Japan and Filmbuff in India.

Since 2019, he cooperates with Thessaloniki Cinematheque in Greece, curating various tributes to Asian cinema. He has participated, with video recordings and text, on a number of Asian movie releases, for Spectrum, Dekanalog and Error 4444. He has taken part as an expert on the Erasmus+ program, “Asian Cinema Education”, on the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course.

Apart from a member of FIPRESCI and the Greek Cinema Critics Association, he is also a member of NETPAC, the Hellenic Film Academy and the Online Film Critics Association.

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