When his mother returns to the countryside, a teenager with a bright future must take care of his family.
Born into a nomadic family who settled in the yurt district of Ulaanbaatar, Ulzii (Battsooj Uurtsaikh) is a typical teenager. Working odd jobs, he is proud of his trendy sneakers. He and his friends like to go skating after school. At school, his teacher (Batzorig Sukhbaatar) encourages him to enter a science competition, which could earn him a scholarship to a private school.
But Ulzii’s mother (Ganchimeg Sandagdordorj), a widow, illiterate, alcoholic and unemployed, decides to return to live in the countryside. Having refused to follow her, the 14-year-old boy must now provide for his brother (Tuguldur Batsaikhan) and sister (Nominjiguur Tsend).
A great success in Mongolia, the first Mongolian film selected at the Cannes Film Festival in the Un Certain Regard section and the first feature film by filmmaker Zoljargal Purevdash, If only I could hibernate transports the viewer into a sad social, economic and environmental reality. A native herself of the yurt district of Ulaanbaatar, where she returned to live after studying cinema in Japan, the director has made it her mission to give a voice to her community.
Having preferred to follow the destiny of a teenager since boys are often forced to financially support their family to the detriment of their education, Zoljargal Purevdash illustrates with a meticulous concern for realism the conditions in which his characters evolve. Thus we see the young boy carrying heavy sacks of coal, chopping wood in the cold of the gray morning, sacrificing a treat for his little brother.
Avoiding sinking into miserabilism, she lingers on the details of daily life without forgetting to highlight what warms the atmosphere of the colorful yurt, such as the small joys of the children, the love of the destitute mother, the kindness of the neighbors. If in certain scenes, notably during Ulzii’s visit to her well-off aunt, the director evokes the cruel gap between the different social classes, she does not fail to salute in passing the social commitment of the inhabitants of Ulaanbaatar campaigning against coal pollution.
Carried by hip-hop songs that the young characters listen to and traditional Mongolian chants, If only I could hibernate recalls with its fair and tender look at the torments of adolescence and the throes of modern life moving dramas with social content such as Yi yiby Edward Yang, Beijing Bicycleby Xiaoshuai Wang, and Better Daysof Derek Kwok-Cheung Tsang. In short, a coming-of-age film that is as tough as it is bright.
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If only I could hibernate
Zoljargal Purevdash
Battsooj Uurtsaikh, Battsooj Uurtsaikh, Batzorig Sukhbaatar
1 h 38