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The Cup (1999 film)

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The Cup
DVD cover
Directed byKhyentse Norbu
Written byKhyentse Norbu
Produced byJeremy Thomas
Raymond Steiner
Malcolm Watson
StarringOrgyen Tobgyal, Neten Chokling
Distributed byPalm Pictures
Fine Line Features (USA)
Release date
  • 29 August 1999 (1999-08-29)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryBhutan
Languages
  • Hindi
  • Tibetan

The Cup (Tibetan: ཕོར་པ། or Phörpa) is a 1999 Tibetan-language film written and directed by Khyentse Norbu in his feature directorial debut. The plot involves two young football-crazed Tibetan refugee novice monks who desperately try to obtain a television for their remote Himalayan monastery to watch the 1998 FIFA World Cup final.

The Cup was Bhutan's first-ever submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, but it was not nominated.

Plot

Two young Tibetan refugees arrive at a monastery in exile in India. Its serene atmosphere is disrupted by soccer fever, the chief instigator being a young student, the soccer enthusiast Orgyen. Determined to see the finals of the World Cup of 1998 between France and Brazil, he sets out to organize the rental of a TV set for the monastery. The enterprise becomes a test of solidarity, resourcefulness, and friendship for the students and monks.

Production

Writer-director Khyentse Norbu in 2006

The Cup was shot in the Tibetan refugee village Bir in India (Himachal Pradesh) (almost entirely between Chokling Gompa and Elu Road).[1]

Producer Jeremy Thomas had developed a relationship with Norbu when he was an advisor on Bertolucci's Little Buddha.[2] Thomas later remembered his experience making the film:

The director Khyentse Norbu is a Tibetan Lama who went to NYC film school, and wanted to make a movie, and I had become friendly with him. There was this charming story, which was a teaching for him but a story for everyone else, about little monks and the World Cup. It was shown in Director’s Fortnight at Cannes, and we brought a lot of Tibetans to the screening, and it was well received and sold all over the world. It was a very happy story for everybody involved.[2]

Release

The Cup was released to DVD on November 13, 2007, in North America by Festival Media (IBFF). The DVD was mastered from a new direct-to-digital transfer from the original film, and includes a bonus documentary entitled Inside The Cup, featuring the director discussing the film, cinema in general and Buddhist philosophy, along with outtakes from the film. There is also a director's commentary audio track.

Reception

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported a rating of 85% approval.[3]

Tom Dawson from BBC wrote, "an immensely likeable and engaging work, filled with genuine humour, and in which the universal themes - the conflict between ancient traditions and modernization, the value of any human endeavor - emerge naturally from the straightforward storyline."[4]

Roger Ebert that given the movie a three-star rating, commented, "The film has a distinctly Western feel in its timing and character development; it's not an inaccessible exercise in impenetrable mysteries, but a delightful demonstration of how spirituality can coexist quite happily with an intense desire for France to defeat Brazil."[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Susan Jakes (January 27, 2003). "The God of Small Films". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on May 9, 2007. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
  2. ^ a b Thomas, Jeremy; Lieberson, Sanford (2006-04-11). ""At the Cutting Edge" – Producer Jeremy Thomas, interviewed by producer Sandy Lieberson". Berlinale Talent Campus. Archived from the original on 2010-05-24. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  3. ^ "The Cup - Rotten Tomatoes". www.rottentomatoes.com. 2000-01-28. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  4. ^ "BBC - Films - review - The Cup (Phörpa)". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-08-01.
  5. ^ Ebert, Roger. "The Cup movie review & film summary (2000) | Roger Ebert". www.rogerebert.com/. Retrieved 2023-08-01.


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