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Cup, The
Fine Line Features


7.0

based on 23 reviews
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based on 1 votes
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FILM:

Travellers & Magicians

MPAA RATING: G for General Audiences

Starring Jamyang Lodro, Orgyen Tobgyal, and Neten Chokling

World Cup fever has reached the Indian Himalayas in this comedy about the lighter side of life in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery. This touching story tackles the issues of winning and losing, life in exile and the impact of the modern world on a highly traditional lifestyle. (Palm Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Khyentse Norbu
DIRECTED BY:	Khyentse Norbu
RELEASE DATE:	Video: September 26, 2001 Theatrical: January 28, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	94 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Bhutan / Australia
LANGUAGE(S):	Hindi / Tibetan (with English subtitles)

Also known as "Phörpa"

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

The first feature-length movie from Bhutan tells its lighthearted story through smart performances, appealing images, and unfailing good humor.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A chalice of unpretentious delight, flowing over with goodwill, a cheeky love for soccer and, uh, Buddhist humor.

Village Voice J. Hoberman

The lovability quotient is as high as the altitude.

New York Post Hannah Brown

So joyous it can actually shake viewers out of a bad mood.

Dallas Observer Andy Klein

This sweet little movie is a mild comedy, a much calmer cousin to "Sister Act," with men in robes rather than women in habits.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

A very funny movie, alive with a sense of absurdity and human foible.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

The glimpses of religious life bumping into secular passion are touching and warmly comic.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

It's a clear-eyed, unsentimental portrait and indelible for that very reason.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

A delightful demonstration of how spirituality can coexist quite happily with an intense desire for France to defeat Brazil.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Past the foreign mysticism and eccentricity of Tibetan Buddhism to portray its characters as unmistakably, identifiably human.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A small film and, ultimately, a satisfying one.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Could well end up on the coming Oscar ballot for best foreign language film.

Film.com Elizabeth Weitzman

Wouldn't you rather learn about his culture from Norbu than from Richard Gere?

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Charming, slyly comic and far from conventionally religious.

TV Guide Ken Fox

The tragedy of modern Tibet haunts this otherwise lighthearted tale of life inside a Buddhist monastery-in-exile.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

While never dull, The Cup is a leisurely, quiet film, rife with staid, sometimes ponderous moments reflecting the seriousness of their situation in exile.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

An improbably funny and transcendent account of soccer-mad Tibetan monks in exile at a Bhutan monastery.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Though The Cup is lovely to look at, it has none of the ceremonial rigor mortis of Scorsese's "Kundun."

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Norbu tries too hard to please and charm, but his film at least carries the advantages of unactorly faces and a premise based on actual events that dramatizes the issue of religious vocation in a secular world.

Mr. Showbiz Michael Atkinson

A cute, clichéd, coming-of-age comedy.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

Never offers much enlightenment through its message.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

Too slow-moving and too understated in much of its humor.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Little more than a plodding celebration of global television trumping everything in its midst.