Tuya’s Marriage (2006/Music Box/MPI DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Film: C+

 

 

Despite the acclaim that Wang Duan An’s film Tuya’s Marriage (2006) has received since its initial worldwide theatrical release, it is only arriving on DVD two years later and not many have raved about it in the U.S. since.  The tale of the title character (Yu Nan) trapped in the conventions of a conformist society that does not favor women is typical of too many such films and the Mongolia angle is one of the only new things about this sad tale.

 

Sure, Tuya is more independent than many women around her or there would be no story, but you know no matter what she does, there is a sense of doom from both the society and mostly-male filmmakers who are producing this.  She has to battle government resettlement, the loss of her normal life and illness of her husband (she wants to take on an official new one while the current one lives with them!) offering some light comedy in the mix, but this is ultimately as uneven as it is predictable.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.85 X 1 image is much softer than I would have ever expected fort a new film, affecting the better shots, though color is still a highlight, while the Dolby Digital Mandarin 2.0 Stereo is more tolerable than the picture despite no Pro Logic type surrounds or other major sonics.  Stills and some previews are the only extras.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo