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More Related Forum Threads and Articles ›Sleepwalking Through the Mekong
Studio: Allegro Media Group Release Date: 05/12/2009 Run time: 70 minutes
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| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Binding | DVD |
| Brand | Allegro |
| EAN | 0723721406554 |
| Label | M80 |
| List Price | $21.98 |
| Manufacturer | M80 |
| MPN | ALGDM80102D |
| Product Group | DVD |
| Product Type Name | ABIS_DVD |
| Publisher | M80 |
| Studio | M80 |
| Title | Sleepwalking Through the Mekong |
| UPC | 723721406554 |
| Number Of Items | 2 |
| Format | NTSC |
| Release Date | 2009-04-14 |
| Languages | Khmer |
| Languages | English |
| Actor | Dengue Fever |
| Audience Rating | NR (Not Rated) |
| Original Release Date | 2009-04-14 |
| Running Time | 68 |
| Theatrical Release Date | 2009-04-14 |
| Additional Features | |
| Aspect Ratio | |
| Director | |
| Number Of Discs | |
| Region Code |
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| Model Name/Type | MPN | EAN/UPC |
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User Reviews: Sleepwalking Through the Mekong
September 15, 2009 at 10:27 am
THE FLICK
Dengue Fever is a band from the Los Angeles area band with a unique sound: they purposely set out to blend American sensibilities with a Khmer sound. Khmer, as Sleepwalking Through the Mekong explains, is the predominant language of the people of Cambodia. In the 1970s, Pol Pot came to power on the back of the Khmer Rouge and virtually exterminated every musician or educated Cambodian person, resulting in a loss of the traditional culture of the people. A handful did survive and continue to teach their craft to new generations.
The band, formed in 2001 by brothers Ethan and Zac Holtzman after a trip to Cambodia, purposely set out to find a Khmer singer. Enter Chhom Nisol, a virtual celebrity back home. What makes Dengue Fever unique is their approach to music: their first two albums have no English content while the third begins to introduce the language. This film follows the six member group on their first "tour" of Cambodia.
Though short at 67-minutes, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong does exactly what a documentary should: it documents a period in time without an overt political or social purpose. Mekong doesn't even want to teach, really, since the history of the Khmer people and music is left to brief snippets interspersed in the bigger picture of live performances. It's as if a camera followed the band around from one location to another without a rhyme or reason-and it all makes sense in the long run.
Too many docs will have the subjects come to a life-altering epiphany at some point in the production, whether it be about the ills of fast food or a political message. Dengue Fever knows exactly what the situation in Cambodia is before they arrive, so there aren't any "gee whiz" moments of befuddlement or depressing emotion. Each of them are thrilled to be "on the road" for their first non-US gig; drama or conflict which characterize other groups is completely absent here. There's nary a time when a smile isn't ever-present on their faces, illustrating the type of people they are.
Unlike major tours where the artist is trying to play at the biggest venue, Dengue Fever seems to prefer the intimate affairs in order to connect with the audience. Indeed, even the big show-stopping performance at the end of the doc includes children from a traditional music school. If it wasn't obvious beforehand, this sequence hammers home the idea the band performs this music not for the money or the acclaim, but for the joy it gives them.
I know I mentioned the doc doesn't come at the audience with an educational bent...but that's almost being disingenuous. It is educational in that the Pol Pot regime and it's effects on the Cambodian people are not well known, nor are the artists and muscians of the past. In that sense, Mekong takes its full running time to teach the audience about another part of the world in a way that doesn't feel like education. It's all so laid back and unpretentious this is a far better way of getting information across than textbooks or over-long and over-wrought films like Dances with Wolves or JFK.
If I have one regret its that we don't get to really know the members of the band in any great depth. Who are they? How did they get mixed up together? Where did they first hear Khmer music? There are flashes of the people-perhaps enough to construct a rough outline-but in the end, what makes them tick? (Interview segments also lack title captions for each person, making it difficult to identify the speakers.)
THE LOOK
A mix of old and new footage, Sleepwalking generally looks very good except when in select sequences where a 1.33:1 image has apparently been zoomed to fill the 1.78:1 frame. Those sequences-as the band plays on a Cambodian television show-come off as old and ragged, pixelated and terribly fuzzy. The rest of the production is considerably better, all things considered. Fleshtones are extremely solid while a wide range of colors hold up well. There's minor shimmer in one or two objects, though nothing alarmingly distracting. Some sequences are a bit too dark while others lack a balance for natural light, making the shot look overexposed.
THE SOUND
Only an English 2.0 mix is included and, to be fair, it's more than enough to get the story across. The track has an issue or two with balancing the dialogue and soundtrack portions of the doc; too many times, the volume needs to be turned down for the overbearing soundtrack and then turned back up to hear the dialogue. Otherwise, the mix is clean of distortion while there is no trouble in understanding the dialogue itself. (For some reason, some of the dialogue doesn't seem synched with the video; I'm not sure if a different audio track was put on the disc because of problems with the recorded soundtrack.) The disc boasts both English and Khmer subtitles, yet the English variety turn out to be schizophrenic. Even with them on, I couldn't get every line of dialogue transcribed onto the screen.
THE STUFF
My screener copy of the film came in a 2-disc jewel case containing the film and the 17-track soundtrack. Promo materials suggest the set comes in this same jewel case, but I can't confirm that. Most of the extras are extended or deleted sequences from the main film. Two live performances (9:16 together)-Shave Your Beard (at Talkin' to a Stranger) and One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula (at Snowy's)-showcase unedited gigs by Dengue Fever in Cambodia. Master Musicians (11:14) introduces traditional Khmer instruments and the experts who can still play them; the much shorter version inside the radio station is featured in the film.
The Water Festival (3:09) occurs every year when the monsoon season ends and the Mekong River changes direction. Another extended scene from the film, Coconut Dance (3:25), allows music school students to show their entire routine. A trailer (1:54), band biography (three text-based screens plus DVD credits) and a Note from the Director (one text-based screen) round out the extras on the first disc.
Disc two, as mentioned, is the soundtrack to the film, along with selected tracks by Khmer pop stars of the 1960s and 1970s. Despite not being able to understand a majority of the words, the tunes are still infectious. Because we don't know exactly what is being said, there's more of an ability to listen to the instruments and to imagine what is being used to create the sounds based on what we see in the film.
Dengue Fever is a band from the Los Angeles area band with a unique sound: they purposely set out to blend American sensibilities with a Khmer sound. Khmer, as Sleepwalking Through the Mekong explains, is the predominant language of the people of Cambodia. In the 1970s, Pol Pot came to power on the back of the Khmer Rouge and virtually exterminated every musician or educated Cambodian person, resulting in a loss of the traditional culture of the people. A handful did survive and continue to teach their craft to new generations.
The band, formed in 2001 by brothers Ethan and Zac Holtzman after a trip to Cambodia, purposely set out to find a Khmer singer. Enter Chhom Nisol, a virtual celebrity back home. What makes Dengue Fever unique is their approach to music: their first two albums have no English content while the third begins to introduce the language. This film follows the six member group on their first "tour" of Cambodia.
Though short at 67-minutes, Sleepwalking Through the Mekong does exactly what a documentary should: it documents a period in time without an overt political or social purpose. Mekong doesn't even want to teach, really, since the history of the Khmer people and music is left to brief snippets interspersed in the bigger picture of live performances. It's as if a camera followed the band around from one location to another without a rhyme or reason-and it all makes sense in the long run.
Too many docs will have the subjects come to a life-altering epiphany at some point in the production, whether it be about the ills of fast food or a political message. Dengue Fever knows exactly what the situation in Cambodia is before they arrive, so there aren't any "gee whiz" moments of befuddlement or depressing emotion. Each of them are thrilled to be "on the road" for their first non-US gig; drama or conflict which characterize other groups is completely absent here. There's nary a time when a smile isn't ever-present on their faces, illustrating the type of people they are.
Unlike major tours where the artist is trying to play at the biggest venue, Dengue Fever seems to prefer the intimate affairs in order to connect with the audience. Indeed, even the big show-stopping performance at the end of the doc includes children from a traditional music school. If it wasn't obvious beforehand, this sequence hammers home the idea the band performs this music not for the money or the acclaim, but for the joy it gives them.
I know I mentioned the doc doesn't come at the audience with an educational bent...but that's almost being disingenuous. It is educational in that the Pol Pot regime and it's effects on the Cambodian people are not well known, nor are the artists and muscians of the past. In that sense, Mekong takes its full running time to teach the audience about another part of the world in a way that doesn't feel like education. It's all so laid back and unpretentious this is a far better way of getting information across than textbooks or over-long and over-wrought films like Dances with Wolves or JFK.
If I have one regret its that we don't get to really know the members of the band in any great depth. Who are they? How did they get mixed up together? Where did they first hear Khmer music? There are flashes of the people-perhaps enough to construct a rough outline-but in the end, what makes them tick? (Interview segments also lack title captions for each person, making it difficult to identify the speakers.)
THE LOOK
A mix of old and new footage, Sleepwalking generally looks very good except when in select sequences where a 1.33:1 image has apparently been zoomed to fill the 1.78:1 frame. Those sequences-as the band plays on a Cambodian television show-come off as old and ragged, pixelated and terribly fuzzy. The rest of the production is considerably better, all things considered. Fleshtones are extremely solid while a wide range of colors hold up well. There's minor shimmer in one or two objects, though nothing alarmingly distracting. Some sequences are a bit too dark while others lack a balance for natural light, making the shot look overexposed.
THE SOUND
Only an English 2.0 mix is included and, to be fair, it's more than enough to get the story across. The track has an issue or two with balancing the dialogue and soundtrack portions of the doc; too many times, the volume needs to be turned down for the overbearing soundtrack and then turned back up to hear the dialogue. Otherwise, the mix is clean of distortion while there is no trouble in understanding the dialogue itself. (For some reason, some of the dialogue doesn't seem synched with the video; I'm not sure if a different audio track was put on the disc because of problems with the recorded soundtrack.) The disc boasts both English and Khmer subtitles, yet the English variety turn out to be schizophrenic. Even with them on, I couldn't get every line of dialogue transcribed onto the screen.
THE STUFF
My screener copy of the film came in a 2-disc jewel case containing the film and the 17-track soundtrack. Promo materials suggest the set comes in this same jewel case, but I can't confirm that. Most of the extras are extended or deleted sequences from the main film. Two live performances (9:16 together)-Shave Your Beard (at Talkin' to a Stranger) and One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula (at Snowy's)-showcase unedited gigs by Dengue Fever in Cambodia. Master Musicians (11:14) introduces traditional Khmer instruments and the experts who can still play them; the much shorter version inside the radio station is featured in the film.
The Water Festival (3:09) occurs every year when the monsoon season ends and the Mekong River changes direction. Another extended scene from the film, Coconut Dance (3:25), allows music school students to show their entire routine. A trailer (1:54), band biography (three text-based screens plus DVD credits) and a Note from the Director (one text-based screen) round out the extras on the first disc.
Disc two, as mentioned, is the soundtrack to the film, along with selected tracks by Khmer pop stars of the 1960s and 1970s. Despite not being able to understand a majority of the words, the tunes are still infectious. Because we don't know exactly what is being said, there's more of an ability to listen to the instruments and to imagine what is being used to create the sounds based on what we see in the film.
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