Close to Eden
Close to Eden
| 30 October 1992 (USA)
Close to Eden Trailers

A farmer and his wife live in a rural part of Inner Mongolia with their three children. Chinese population control policies prevent them from having any more. The farmer sets out for the nearest town to obtain birth control. He comes upon a Russian truck driver who has ended up in a lake. The farmer takes the man back to his farm, and after initially being appalled, the Russian becomes enchanted with the peaceful life of the countryside and decides to stay. But his presence presages big changes for the peasants.

Reviews
Stellead

Don't listen to the Hype. It's awful

... View More
Onlinewsma

Absolutely Brilliant!

... View More
Roman Sampson

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

... View More
Fleur

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

... View More
Aleksandar Sarkic

What an experience, this movie is too beautiful. I discovered this movie when i searched some stuff about Monoglia and Mongols, i am for long time very interested in that part of the world, and on one site Urga was highly recommended movie, so i say to myself that i must watch it, and it was as i say in the beginning one of the most beautiful cinematographic experience i have ever had. Everything about this movie is beautiful, from landscapes, cast, music, atmosphere, relationship between characters, really everything is in place, incredible directing by Nikita Mikhalkov, definitely i will watch more of his films in the future. Very nice acting by Vladimir Gostyukhin, you will really love his character and also other Mongolian actors did a nice job, everything is very natural, and it is the best way of acting. When you watch this movie, you will smile, you will cry, and at end of it you will feel total serenity, feeling that you were really Close to Eden.M

... View More
dy158

It is a part of Inner Mongolia which seemed to be cut out from the outside world. But the city-bred Pagma is trying to resist the advances of her husband Gombo out on the plains. It would turn out that the married couple has three children, while Chinese law (which Inner Mongolia is part of China) limits Mongolian families to two children.There are also signs of modern influences in the hut the family lives in, even if Gombo raises sheep, cattle and horses, leading the live of a typical Mongolian nomad. A generator for electric light in the hut, Gombo's son wearing a baseball cap, his daughter who plays an accordion which was given to her by an uncle who lives in the city, the neighbour who seems to be drunk most of the time whenever Gombo and Pagma sees him who gives them a movie poster and swearing that it looks like his brother in America which actually shows Sylvester Stallone in Rambo.Gombo's seemingly normal life would be disrupted when he rescued Sergei, a Russian construction worker building the transcontinental road in Mogolia where his truck went to the edge of a lake. After initial awkward exchanges which happened at the hut when Sergei initially wondered what to do with the sheep which Gombo had killed and skinned, the two men from very different backgrounds began to feel at ease with each other.But there is also Pagma who had told Gombo to go to the city to get a television set and some condoms, other than Sergei wondering why he has to work outside of Russia while trying to get to grips with the demise of the Russian soul at a nightclub in the city with a fellow compatriot, which came at a time when the Soviet Union has already collapsed. Even with the unlikely friendship, there is the constant juxtaposition of what the intrusions of the modern age has in store for the two men who wants to cling on to their respective identities.It is not a film to understand easily on the surface as it forces to look at one's own identity as it connects with the world around him/her, but there are also the comic elements in the film like in the form of the drunken neighbour of Gombo and Pagma to provide the comic relief.For those who may be unaware of the various references shown and mentioned throughout the film, it can seem confusing at times, even towards the ending. But it is a reminder of how there are times when one wants to move forward with the times, there always seemed to be something holding one back reminding one's own identity in the first place.

... View More
Claudian

A men, his wife, some children and the grandmother live in a little house on the Mongolian outback, faraway from anything. When a truck driver gets stuck with his truck nearby, a cultural exchanging process begins to take place and, after all, they do learn a few things from each other...From the very beginning until the very end, however, nothing interesting happens. No action, no nothing. Unbelievable...It is long, boring, tedious and uninteresting story. As a matter of fact this movie is the very definition of "boring". Certainly the WORSE movie I ever saw. TOTAL WASTE OF TIME.As a matter of fact, I can hardly believe that so many people voted around a seven/eight for this movie. It IS a ZERO star. Trust-me!May be I am missing something.... or a lot of imagination to find this movie "interesting" or something like that... Honest.

... View More
johan-16

This movie shows us a world without any borders, laws. Just a bunch of people who live in a superb nature, which fills the wide moviescreen in its endless beauty. It reminds us, how far we are away from nature, from our roots of our ancesters. That's why I think this movie appeals the people from all over the world. And especially those who like the widescreen movies from John Huston to Visconti. Only for the superb shots you can see it over and over again. It's, without any doubt a timeless beaty

... View More