With a Girl of Himalaya (2008) User Reviews

A quiet story for those who do not need much dialogue

[veranck-1 · 7/10 · 20 December 2009]

The story is simple: a man travels to Nepal to deliver the remains of a worker (who worked in his brothers plant and died due to an accident) to his family. When he reaches the secluded village, he suffers the effects of high altitude sickness. He wakes up in the house of the family, sick, dazed and confused. He can only communicate in English with a boy (around 10 yrs old) although not much is said throughout the movie. The man fails to tell the family of the accident and death of their family member. He doesn't dare to say. For a while the man stays with the family, observing their simple way of life while trying to cope with his own unexplained demons. This is a broken down man, who feels he has failed in life. This becomes clear because he makes a phone call to his ex-wife, asks about his child and eventually hangs up the phone with an expression of misery on his face. At the end of the movie it remains unknown if the man has reached some kind of salvation during his time with the family, but I like to think he has. Not many clues for that are given, except for a rare smile in the final scene. I like these kinds of stories. Beautiful setting, no redundant dialogue and good acting. I could have done without the goatkillingscene, but hey, that's just my sensitive soul.

A collection of beautiful images

[badmash_79 · 6/10 · 9 November 2009]

First comment for this movie, yippiiiiii! I watched this movie only because it is the first movie with south korean actor Choi Min-Sik in almost 3 years. He is most famous for playing the lead in the international hit movie Oldboy. But people who are familiar with south korean cinema will know that this man has many good movies under his belt, i personally think he is one of the finest actors in the world. I wonder what made him choose to do this movie after such a long break.

Most of the movie takes place in the northern part of Nepal, in the Himalayas. It doesn't have much dialogue. If you are interested in watching some very beautiful footage of this part of the world, then this movie is highly recommended. It has a very dreamy and surreal feel to it.

It does not however have much of a story line. It is very quite and can easily put you to sleep. I guess people who enjoy Ingmar Bergman type films will like this one. Choi Min-Sik gives an excellent performance as usual, but the lack of dialogues makes it a quite dull experience.

This is the first film i have seen by this director. The movie feels like a collection of slide shows, not much movement. It moves from one beautiful still image to another.

I am not sure myself if i liked the film or not. I wasn't put of by it, the beauty of the nature of the place made me keep watching it to the end. But i don't think it is for any kind of mainstream audience. I gave it a 6 out of 10. 5 for the pretty images and one extra star for Choi Min-Siks acting. I hope he does more films in the future, and not so far apart.