Written and Directed by: Khyentse Norbu
Starring Rabindra Singh Baniya, Tsering Gyalthang, Tenzin Kunzel
Running Time: 1 hour 53 minutes
Now playing in virtual cinemas

by Liz Wiest, Contributor

“If everyone believed they only had seven days to live, the world would be peaceful.” Khyentse Norbu delves deep into the mentality of living like you’re dying in his latest drama Looking for a Lady With Fangs and a Moustache. The film follows a young entrepreneur named Tenzin, who is too bogged down with being too “modern-minded” for his own good. After being haunted by spiritual premonitions and informed by an unconventional monk in headphones and sunglasses that he has seven days until his impending death, he must race against the clock to gain back control of his fate.

Norbu, whose 2014 film Vara: A Blessing was recognized at Tribeca, utilizes his experience as a former Buddhist lama to present a visually compelling mystery that captures the essence of Tenzin’s internal conflict. From the start, even just from taking in the optics of the production design, it’s apparent that he’s a protagonist who is caught in the riptide of a rapidly Westernizing Kathmandu. Tenzin is so entranced by the allure of industry and entrepreneurship, that it alienates him from what remains of the peaceful, traditional world around him. Each shot highlights the brilliance of the surroundings he feels at odds with as well as the “feminine energy” following him that he cannot seem to put his finger on.

When Tenzin is confronted with the reality that his recurring strange visions point straight to death, he learns from the monks that he must locate a dakini (a sacred female spirit in Hinduism) in order to save himself. But the way forward is vague. From the first monk, he is told that dakinis take on the physical form of women who bear fangs and a moustache, and that he must steal something embodying their feminine energy. But the plot thickens as the second monk tells him it is unclear if he must seek out a real or a symbolic dakini, one that could be near or far. The best part? Dakinis tend to hate modern-minded men like Tenzin, and conversely, men like him can never understand them. But as the monk tells him, this journey embodies “a way to see flaws as truth, a way to see problems as solutions”, which is fitting given that Dakinis represent the pure potentiality for all possible manifestations.

Many aspects of Tenzin’s arc of self-discovery can be universally appreciated. Even for viewers who aren’t spiritual, hearing the monks urge him to learn to let go, and to not overcomplicate a simple solution is resounding, and the themes are topical in a current world that is industrializing faster than what we can keep up with. But unfortunately, it’s difficult to sympathize with Tenzin, or to even want to. His character feels very one-note, and it’s hard to a grasp on what exactly his objective even is. This is partially due to Gyalthang’s performance (according to his IMDb this is his acting debut- and his first jump away from directing), but also can be attributed to the lack of depth in the writing. The audience knows he wants to see his dreams of a coffee shop materialize, but that plot line somewhat veers off not even halfway through. He toes the line between traditionalism and modernism but is so aloof and uncaring toward the more likeable characters in his life that you find yourself not necessarily caring what he even picks. Tenzin truly embodies a protagonist to feel indifferent at best about. Additionally, while the film is branded as a drama/mystery, the pacing is far more aligned with that of an Eat, Pray, Love-type self-love story, which would be fine had it not boasted such an obviously mismatched title.

The ending of the story is ambiguous, and while Tenzin is able to seemingly reach his self-actualization and “avoid death”, it feels as though his journey is only just now beginning. While it is implied to us at the end that his discovery of dakini may not have been symbolic after all, there still feels as though there is something that is amiss- indicating that there is work to be done, and that he did not completely have an overnight Ebenezer Scrooge-esque change of lifestyle. Normally it could be said that Lady With Fangs and a Moustache leaves a lot of questions unanswered–but it doesn’t do much to really pique your interest in them in the first place. The film is essentially a breathtakingly-directed advertisement encouraging viewers to come and find spiritual enlightenment in Kathmandu, as creating your own journey would likely bring you more perspective than this did.