San Francisco Chronicle by Carla Meyer
Visually accomplished and loads of fun.
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Australia, Bhutan, United Kingdom · 2003
1h 48m
Director Khyentse Norbu
Starring Tshewang Dendup, Sonam Lhamo, Dasho Adab Sangye, Ap Dochu
Genre Adventure, Drama
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A young government official, named Dondup, who is smitten with America, dreams of escaping there from his small, isolated village. He misses the one bus out of town to a major city, however, and is forced to hitchhike and walk along the Lateral Road to the West, accompanied by an apple seller, a Buddhist monk with a relic, a drunk, a widowed rice paper maker, and his beautiful daughter, Sonam.
San Francisco Chronicle by Carla Meyer
Visually accomplished and loads of fun.
In this lovely film, writer-director Khientse Norbu (The Cup) shifts smoothly between a kind of Buddhist "The Postman Always Rings Twice" and depicting the bonds that form among Dondup and his companions.
The New York Times by Dave Kehr
As he did in "The Cup," Mr. Norbu provides a lot of ingratiating comic moments. His Buddhism is the laughing, playful kind, and does not ask the Western audience - for whom the film is clearly intended - to deal with any uncomfortably complex religious issues.
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Colorful, if not exciting.
Although writer-director Khientse Norbu breaks no ground in unfolding two parallel stories about young men seeking fresh horizons, he creates believable characters -- and has the great benefit of living in a country that provides seldom-seen locations at the top of the world.
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
Shangri-La is in your own backyard.
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas
A warm, embracing film of transcendent beauty and spirituality.
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
Offbeat and ravishingly beautiful.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
The (mild) intrigue of Travellers & Magicians is that its central figure, Dondup (Tshewang Dendup), rolls his eyes at Buddhist karma.
Delightful performances are delivered by all in this ingenious work of cinema that is worth seeing if only for its glorious views of the Himalayas.
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