Silent City Driver starts with some undisclosed sounds before we see a man at a distance waiting for a bus in the rain. We hear him introduce himself as Myagmar (Tuvshinbayar Amartuvshin), saying he is 32 years old and born in Ulaanbaatar. Suddenly, someone asks him if he is disabled. When Myagmar answers no, the bus comes, and when he boards, a creature takes his place. The cliché about a film grabbing you from the start has rarely felt more apt. What served as an introduction to the spectator turns out to be a job interview for the role of a hearse driver. He is hired partly because of his skills in stonework and carpentry, which he obtained in prison.
Myagmar served in prison for fourteen years. His beloved mother died while he was incarcerated. He suffered brain damage due to a vicious beating and often stutters when he speaks. His tormented soul appears even more scarred, and his only friends seem to be the stray dogs that he has saved from death. Driving a hearse is an ideal task for him since he doesn’t have to talk to anyone. Gradually, he will start talking to the 18-year-old monk Sodoo, who sits beside him when he drives to the funerals. Myagmar’s work connects him to a blind coffin maker, where his aforementioned skills come to good use. The latter has a daughter, Saruul, who has some secrets.
Silent City Driver is really here
Saruul sneaks out at night and is involved with men who are into some seriously shady business. When Myagmar starts following her, he will become aware of the city’s seedy underbelly. If this makes the film sound like the director, Sengedorj Janchivdorj, substituted Travis Bickle’s taxi for a hearse, that would be a vast reduction of the film’s immense qualities. This is not Joker (2019) either, but if any film with Joaquin Phoenix comes to mind, it is You Were Never Really Here (2017). Both films are in complete control of their respective means of expression and have a couple of stylistic and especially narrative tangents, even though they look quite different.
Silent City Driver has a tight plot, and it is deliberately paced. I mean that in the true sense of the expression and not as a euphemism for slow-moving. The film’s rhythm is pitch-perfect, and the 138-minute running time never feels bloated. It was hardly a surprise that the film won the Grand Prix in the Black Nights Film Festival main competition since it is one of the best films seen at any festival this year. A second award was given for the production design, and it was immensely justified as well. I would have added an award for Enkhbayar Enkhtur’s staggering cinematography, but there are obviously limits to how many awards can be bestowed on one film.
The casting is both surprising and perfect. Tuvshinbayar Amartuvshin is a professional dancer, and this is his first movie role. He is a commanding presence, with his face and body movements, which perfectly conjures up a character with profound internal wounds. Narantsetseg Ganbaatar, as Saruul, is a professional model but manages to go beyond the attractive surface. The same could be said for the entire film, which looks gorgeous and is actually more colourful than one might remember afterwards. What distinguishes this masterpiece is that the beauty is deeply rooted in the film’s form. So is the song Comme un boomerang, by and with Serge Gainsbourg. The song’s sadness is an exquisite illustration of a man fighting his internal pain.
When I interviewed the cinematographer Enkhbayar Enkhtur and the co-scriptwriter Nomuunzul Turmunkh, the latter said about the song that Serge Gainsbourg sang the song so carelessly but deep down, you would feel the sadness and loneliness so it would perfectly represent the protagonist’s world. When I reviewed Pepe from the Berlinale earlier this year, I was sure that it would be the greatest film of the year and nothing would come close. Even if it still is my favourite of the year, Silent City Driver is an astounding achievement that will, without any doubt, figure highly on my list of the year’s greatest films.
Silent City Driver had its world premiere at the Black Nights Film Festival, which is yet another feather in the hat for the festival and its selection team. The director was already known by the Estonian festival audience. In 2023, his film Sales Girl won the Audience Award at the Tartu Love Film Festival Tartuff. With the proper marketing, the film should be able to conquer the world since it is not arthouse in the most hermetic sense of the word. Check it out if it plays in your area.; you will not regret it.
