In a remote region of Chinese-controlled Tibet, innocent shepherd Tharlo (Shide Nyima) comes down from the mountains to get an ID card at a police station. He needs a photograph, and the local photographer insists he gets tidied up, so he visits hairdresser Yangsto (Yangshik Tso) across the street, a femme fatale in a sequin-covered blouse, a suspiciously modern short haircut, and a seductive way with a bottle of dry shampoo. Director Pema Tseden, who made the touching if likewise strongly literary parable Old Dog a few years back, doesn’t miss a single arthouse cliche here. If this were part of a drinking game, you’d be truly sloshed after you’d ticked off all the tropes here: Bressonian fable that illustrates the corruption of city life – tick! Austere monochrome cinematography comprised of shots that last minutes – tick! Photogenic woolly livestock in a vast, awe-inducing landscape – tick! Even so, as a bit of anthropology offering a glimpse into Tibetan life today, it’s perfectly serviceable.
