Tharlo

A shepherd from the steppes finds that the big city holds more pitfalls than merely bureaucracy and dreadful karaoke in Tseden’s innovatively structured critique of Tibet’s rural-urban divide. Heading to town for his first-ever picture ID, the not-so-simple shepherd Tharlo promptly loses his sense of identity, courtesy of a modern woman with designs on his time—and money. Merging a poignant commentary on Tibet’s modernization and displacement into a languid high-steppes noir, Tharlo was filmed in only eighty-four black-and-white long takes so striking that the film’s video release came with postcards drawn from them.