Over the last year, the Asian American community has faced a dramatic increase in the number of hate crimes spurred by ignorant men, namely the former president, looking for someone to blame for covid-19. I write this review on April 22nd, 2021, a day in which the US Senate voted to pass legislation to better track, investigate, and document hate crimes against Asian American and Pacific Islander civilians (the vote passed 94-1, a remarkably bipartisan effort for this age of American politics, with only Sen. Josh Hawley voting in favor of hate crimes). These crimes, as well as the white supremacist “model minority” myth, and my many Asian American friends who feel threatened or unseen are and were on my mind when I sat down to watch what is being touted as one of the first Mongolian American feature films. And I admit that I know very little about Mongolian Americans, other than to say that they feel largely underrepresented or rarely thought of. In the Land of Lost Angels (2019) doesn’t exactly seek to fill in the knowledge gaps about Mongolian American life so much as to shine a spotlight on desperation of immigrants in America, a story that is, in a lot of ways, sadly universal.
Mongolian American “brothers” Ankhaa (Erdenemunkh Tumursukh) and Orgil (Iveel Mashbat) are furniture movers living in Los Angeles. When Ankhaa’s blood brother needs an operation that the family can’t possibly afford, Ankhaa and Orgil devise a plan to kidnap a wealthy man’s son who they’d previously done a job for. The two men are a bit at odds about how to carry out the plan – one wants to go over every detail repeatedly, the other more confidently wants to get to action. The first sign that maybe they really should’ve talked over this plan more is when a man approaches their car where they’re idling in the dark. Orgil asks who the man is and Ankhaa answers, “Don’t worry, you don’t know him,” before the man (Saint Ranson) gets into the back seat of their car and presents the pistol for them to buy. Orgil freaks out, because he didn’t think guns were part of the plan, and starts shouting in Mongolian while Ankhaa tries to calm down both him and the now increasingly agitated gun seller. It’s a funny, tense scene, and the first example of what the film will return to throughout: masculine men put in difficult spots unwilling to compromise.
The pair ultimately manage to kidnap their target, Scott (Mike Cali), and shove him blindfolded into the bathtub of a motel room. Scott, fearing for his life, resists at first, but they attempt to reason with him into being a more agreeable hostage to better his chances of survival. Then they get on the phone with Scott’s dad (Robert Corsini) and make their (lofty) ransom demands.
Filmed in attractive black and white photography on a micro budget, In the Land of Lost Angels is a kidnapping thriller with a cast of maybe six people, set almost entirely in cars, cramped apartments, and nondescript hotel rooms. It takes place over a week, with days presented like chapters. It’s an interesting thriller in that the stakes aren’t continually raised, but rather the relationship between the kidnappers becomes so strained that it throws the job and their lives into jeopardy.
There are very few glimpses of the world beyond our main characters, but we occasionally hear TV or radio clips from the news, including snippets about the former president as well as a speaker that, for me, called to mind Jordan Peterson. In the Land of Lost Angels is a movie about immigrants resorting to desperate means to save a loved one in an uncaring country, yes, but it’s also a film about toxic masculinity. When things go bad, Ankhaa and Orgil begin to turn on each other about how to handle the job, in particular whether to let their hostage live or not. Their posturing and need to be seen as tougher than the other is a big part of their undoing in the criminal plot.
The young actors Erdenemunkh Tumursukh and Iveel Mashbat are good but it’s in these scenes with raised voices that the limitations of acting experience begin to present themselves. The film has a very authentic vibe throughout, only to lose it when Ankhaa and Orgil start fighting for dominance. The actors are better when the film asks for more understated performances from them. Mike Cali, also, doesn’t show the fear that you’d expect from the victim of kidnapping, and mostly complains about comfort. (There is only one woman with a speaking role in the film and I do not believe her character has a name.)
The film is at its best when its not raging but rather when it is quiet. The film’s soundtrack is largely made up by the heightened sound of white noise in a silent space, lending a lonely isolation to the characters and the audience. The camera, with some exceptions, largely does not move in the long, often one-take scenes, and is frequently positioned at odd angles that do not show our leads in close-up. The style of the film creates mild unease.
In the Land of Lost Angels is the feature directorial debut of writer/director Bishrel Mashbat and if there’s anything I’m going to take from the movie it’s that I believe its creator is worth paying attention to. This movie doesn’t do anything particularly new for kidnapping thrillers but it does its thing admirably well on a small budget and there’s enough flourish to the filming techniques, as well as the writing, to suggest a growing talent.
I like In the Land of Lost Angels. And I like that it’s a story about Mongolian Americans made by Mongolian Americans. In this case, one family is key to the film’s existence. Mashbat is the director but his brother Iveel is both a lead actor and producer. Uyanga Mashbat plays the only female role in the film and is also a member of the crew.
I also like that, though the movie is known for being one of the first Mongolian American films, it isn’t trying to tell the story of all Mongolian Americans. It’s very self-contained, its aspirations simple and all the better for it: it is a tense Asian American crime story that’s done in an hour and a half, that ends with one of the best shots in the film.
I’m happy the movie exists and would like there to be more like it, either by Mashbat or other filmmakers like him.
