Kekexili
2004 / 90m - China
Drama, Thriller
2.5*/5.0*
Mountain Patrol poster

Watches

January 09, 2021

2.5*/5.0*

The film that kick-started Chuan Lu's career. I'm not a big fan of his work, but he made some amusing films and Mountain Patrol has somewhat of a positive reputation, so I figured it wouldn't hurt giving it a chance. It's not a bad film, but the potential was there to do a lot better with the material.

A reporter from Beijing travels to Tibet to join a unofficial patrol group. They roam the mountains looking for poachers, who kill antelopes and sell their hides. It's a treacherous area to patrol though and since they don't receive any funding, they have to make do with what they can find.

The setting is majestic, but Lu doesn't always make the best use of it. While there are some pretty shots to be admired, they're actually quite sparse and the film looks a little too gray and unattractive. The plot is pretty basic too and the performances are nothing special. Not bad, but overall I was a little disappointed.