Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

A different way of telling a story

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

In Travellers and Magicians, Bhutanese director Khyentse Norbu (The Cup) tells us two parallel stories that deliver one message - happiness is usually found in the simpler things in life.The protagonist of this gentle film is a man called Dondup, a young, highly Westernized civil servant, who works in a small village in the Himalayas and dreams of migrating to America (as indication of his westernization, we see him listening to rock music in a portable stereo). One day, he receives a long expected letter, indicating a visa to the US is waiting for him in the Bhutanese capital of Thimbu. Unfortunately, he just misses the bus (which appears in the village only sporadically) so he decides to hitchhike to the capital. Along the road, he meets people representing a simpler side of life: an apple seller, a Buddhist monk, and a maker of traditional rice paper and his beautiful teenage daughter.To pass the time, the monk starts telling the group a story, which is the framework for the film's second, parallel story: a fugitive finds refuge in a remote forest, in the house of an elderly woodcutter. The woodcutter has a far younger wife, to which the fugitive starts feeling increasingly attracted, and this attraction is reciprocated by her. The fugitive's attraction for the woodcutter's daughter is the mirror of the increasing feelings of Dondup towards the paper maker's daughter in the first story. Eventually, Dondup will realize that the simpler things in life are usually the best ones.

At the outset of this charming fable, the postman receives his monthly pay. "Lots of money now" comments someone as he emerges from the headman's house. "Bah, less than an American makes in a morning!" exclaims the disgruntled worker.Yes, even in Bhutan, they've heard about the fabled American way of life, just as that way of life commences a rapid decline, with monopolistic corporate global hegemony stripping Americans of jobs and a decent standard of living and the flow of petroleum that fuels their civilisation beginning to peak.Dondup is the type to match action with words, and he's lined up a contact at the US Embassy in the capital who will get him into the USA via a dodgy immigration form like the ones the 911 hijackers supposedly filled out in Riyadh. Dondup loves smoking, pop music on his ghetto blaster, cutting a rug in his room and body-building. As his T-shirt declares: he loves New York.However, as the celluloid runs and we get the flavour of life in Bhutan we start wondering how long it will be before Dondup is on Prozac in some hole in suburban LA engaging in petty crime to get by and dreaming of returning to his homeland. Fortunately, a fable told by his fellow hitch-hiker, plus the prospect of marriage to a dishy 19 year-old maiden, returns him to his senses. The audience's relief is palpable.This is a film that mildly imparts the important insight that America is no longer a land of which to dream. If you haven't acquired the minimal attention span of the typical Hollywood consumer, requiring a thrill a minute just to keep awake, it's well worth a viewing.

The movie starts with a close up of a face. That face belongs to the monk that in my translated version (spanish) was mosquito. Now you can get a grip of the calm life of the monks and also the patience and love for their life in them, this in contrast with the life of Dondup, who is desperate of that living. The whole movie is the journey into the life of each one and seeing the things that matter in life. For Dondup it was a physical journey, travelling and meeting and sharing with people. For Tashi it was a spiritual journey, based on the magic (hence the title). This is also reinforced by the beautiful management of the camera and the filters used showing a clear and vivid physical journey (highly contrasted) in difference with the sepia tone of the spiritual journey. Highly recommended if you want to see a beautiful work of art and you are not bothered with looking at the best Hollywood films and have tolerance for spiritual and mystic things. Although the movie deals very heavily on this aspects, the movie is beyond spirituality.

I felt as though I had been hoodwinked about fifteen minutes into this movie. The trailer made it look like it might be funny and charming, which it was not. Men dancing in a silly way and men wearing silly hats are highly suggestive of comedy, warmth, and charm. That and nice scenery (inherent in Asain cinema) were what I was expecting. Instead I got a sermon told through the stories of completely flat characters. When I used to work at Cheddar's, I was the world's worst waiter for about two weeks, but it wasn't entirely my fault. One of the things I got in trouble for was constantly spilling Margaritas. However, the management at Cheddar's had selected Margarita glasses that were much more like plates with stems than anything meant to hold a beverage. I would come to the bar with wet sleeves and ask for more over and over again. The customers got angrier, my sleeves got drunker, and eventually I quit, preempting being fired. These characters were like those Margarita glasses. This was a shabby, preachy fable, which could have been told more artfully with my nipple hair directing and my toenail clippings as actors. Shame on everyone for giving this a high rating. I fear I have fallen victim to the because it's foreign and independent it must be good and I'm a filthy commoner if I don't enjoy it crowd. Don't do the same.