Burn Your Maps

This film had become my white whale in recent years. It has taken me literally 5 years to see it. It's criminal how obscure Burn Your Maps has become - particularly given the incredible performances.

It felt unique and quirky. A young boy (Tremblay) becomes fixated on the idea he's a Mongolian goat herder who belongs in a Mongolian village. Through the ingenuity of his new friend Ismail (Sharma) he's able to venture to Mongolia with his grieving Mum (Farmiga) coming along too.

Burn Your Maps is as much about the grieving process and family, as it is being your authentic self. All elements work quite well together - it could even be categorised as a travel or adventure film. It's moving and emotional, while not falling too far into overly-sentimental moments.

Farmiga and Tremblay are at their best. The scenery is stunning (Canada stepping in for Mongolia). It's a beautiful film on many levels, with the incredible landscapes and cinematography adding to what is a touching story.

Glad I finally found this and was able to watch it. Gets you thinking about life, your identity and where you want to go. Burn Your Maps is a refreshing film in a cinematic era riddled with superheroes and reboots. Will check out the short story (of which this is based) by Robyn Joy Leff now!

I enjoyed this film, from start to finish. It was a wonderful story of lost souls, and many of us can relate to this concept of just not fitting in. The boy who starred in this film did a great job of portraying someone, who is lost in a fantasy world, due to real life tragedy, being a bit much to handle. Vera Farmiga did a lovely job as his supportive and understanding mother, though she was attempting to deal with the same family tragedy, in her own way. Martin Csokas was exceptional, as usual. A major talent. The wonderful Virginia Madsen had a great, though brief part. All the talent was outstanding.

The direction, soundtrack, performances, script, and editing were excellent. Why can't Hollywood make more films like this one. No car chases. No inane leaps of faith. Just a good, solid, heartfelt story.

This delightful film is a complete fantasy, especially once it leaves its urban setting for an entirely imaginary world of sun-drenched steppes and gambolling goats, full of benevolent, wise, leisured folks who queue up as soon as they are introduced to become our heroes' new best friends and mentors. It's all far too pleasant to be believable, but you would need a heart of the purest mud not to be taken in anyway. For all its wishful thinking, the story achieves the prerequisite for fantasy: it makes you want to know where this place is so that you can move there. The script is also often funny, and the actors are uniformly excellent.

The film has been criticised for not featuring enough Mongolian characters doing authentic Mongolian things, but I think that is missing the point of the story. This is not about actual Mongolia and its people, but about the vast open spaces, exciting and unknown, that open up in front of a nine-year old, just as his parents are seeing their own vistas suddenly shuttered by a personal disaster. This new world is only Asian and exotic in ways that are accessible to the child: grand scenery, semi-free farm animals, people who live in tents, unfamiliar language. But the emotional connections the boy and his mother make while there are, naturally, with people that they could have met in America. On the contrary, it is the other characters, coming over with no expectations, who find answers there to the questions that they did not know how to ask.

This film tells the story of a young boy who has an obsession with him being a Mongolian nomad.

The story is already really good during the first fifteen minutes, and it gets even better as it goes along. The story is incredibly moving, and contains profound wisdom. The line saying that we come with nothing is just amazing. Who would have thought an indie film would be so wise and beautiful. I definitely recommend watching this.

I totally recommend this for those who want a underlying heavy drama with a light portrayal. It's an adventure type of movie where the surroundings and characters evolve, so much dynamic that you can watch this movie many times and still enjoy it.