25
Hao doesn't seem to have a point of view. Mongolian Ping-Pong is episodic and meandering, with several tedious stretches.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer by Bill White
Takes a humorously gentle approach to the culture clash between the primitive and the modern. With wonderfully natural performances by the children, this is a family movie that crosses cultural boundaries in a celebration of the magical possibilities inherent in everyday objects.
60
A charming but overextended yarn about some prairie tykes who mistake a table-tennis ball for a glowing pearl from the gods.
75
In Mongolian Ping Pong the point is to look under the majestic vistas and see value in ordinary things -- ping-pong balls included.
50
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
This sounds like a slender premise on which to hang a feature, but director Ning Hao is more interested in ethnography and landscapes than narrative and often holds our interest by concentrating on how folklore, technology--motorbikes, cars, trucks, films, TV--and imagination affect a nomadic way of life.
70
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Although its leisurely pace might be a bit tough going for restless Westerners, Mongolian Ping Pong is the kind of film that should rightly be seen by children, not just adventurous adults.
70
Village Voice by Michael Atkinson
Much more so than any movie actually about spiritual discipline, the new Chinese film Mongolian Ping Pong could be a meditational object-- if, perhaps, it wasn't a sneaky comedy and, to boot, one of the most breathtaking cinematic records of landscape and sky ever filmed.
75
Chicago Tribune by Michael Wilmington
A tender, visually stunning comedy-drama.
70
Washington Post by Stephen Hunter
This is one of the most becalming films ever made. The grasslands seem oddly serene, and to watch them is to feel your pulse rate flatten out -- yet another aspect of Mongolian Ping Pong's transcendent charm.
75
Movies don't come any more charming than Mongolian Ping Pong.