Ten years ago, director Thomas Balmès was filming in the small country of Bhutan, nestled between India and China, before the mass onset of the internet. He focused on a seven-year-old Buddhist named Peyangki who lived in a monastery set against a stunning mountainous backdrop. Peyangki confides to the camera his hopes and fears about the arrival of electricity. That is the opening of Sing Me A Song which then skips to the present. Peyangki is an 17-year-old monk, still at t... (Full plot summary below)
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Ten years ago, director Thomas Balmès was filming in the small country of Bhutan, nestled between India and China, before the mass onset of the internet. He focused on a seven-year-old Buddhist named Peyangki who lived in a monastery set against a stunning mountainous backdrop. Peyangki confides to the camera his hopes and fears about the arrival of electricity. That is the opening of Sing Me A Song which then skips to the present. Peyangki is an 17-year-old monk, still at the monastery, but now awaking to the alarm of the smartphone that is his constant tool for every minute of the day, even during prayers. The film follows Peyangki in his rural monastery as he forms, via WeChat, a virtual relationship with a barroom singer named Ugyen who lives in the capital, Thimphu. She sings him love songs while he saves money from collecting medicinal mushrooms to go visit her. We watch their long-distance relationship evolve from both sides. As with all internet dating, there are obfuscations and false projections about the future. Balmès is a master of observation as he demonstrated in his longitudinal study Babies, which chronicled the development of infants in different parts of the world. With beautiful cinematography, he Marshall's nuance, humor, and humanity. To witness the effects of technology in a country that kept it at bay for so long gives us a fresh lens to reflect on what it means to our own lives.
Leave your thoughts about Sing Me a Song.
| The New York TimesKristen Yoonsoo KimBalmès doesn’t arrive at easy, scathing conclusions about the internet. Instead, he lets the camera journey to unexpected places, leading to a different kind of meditation that strikes with deep emotional resonance. |
| Movie NationRoger MooreEven if we see “trouble” the minute we spy that first phone, we don’t necessarily guess how this fascinating “speed of change” story will play out. |
| The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberThis film will not resolve the question of whether technological “progress” represents an advance or a decline in civilization, but it certainly will provoke conversations about that issue. And the focus on a real person over a period of years certainly adds pungency to the debate. |
| VarietyCourtney HowardWhile more than an hour and a half seems like a long time to make the simplistic statement that the internet is bad, Balmès has greater profundity in mind when disseminating astute observations about how modern necessities and communicative devices impact cultures and ecosystems. |
| The GuardianPeter BradshawA thoughtful portrait of separate lives and destinies. |
| CineVueChristopher MachellMuch of this documentary sequel to to Thomas Balmès’ 2013 film Happiness is beautiful and humane, but is more often simplistic and questionable in its exploration of the impact of technology on a traditional society. |
