Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Curt Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

jlongstreth-1 An inspirational tale of culture shock. Paul takes everything as it comes to him and assimilates it into his inner world while the outer world batters him this way and that. Music and the love of his friends and the Tuvan people carry Paul (mostly)safely through a great adventure. Love the story, the music is intriguing, the scenery is beautiful. The political back story is fascinating, understanding how the Tuvan people managed to hang on to their culture through the Soviet rule. The Feynman angle is strange and funny enough to believe. I remember my mother having some Tuvan postage stamps. My only quibble is with the production values-they do not live up to the beauty of the tale.

tnrcooper The best of the human spirit. Paul Pena is a blind blues singer who wrote the song "Jet Airliner" which would become a hit for The Steve Miller Band. He was widowed in 1991 and has fallen into some depression, but before the death of his wife, he had heard some Tuvan throatsinging on shortwave radio. After trying to find recordings of it, he stumbles on some and attempts to master it, as well as the singing. During the visit of a master throat-singer, Kongar-ool Ondar, he approaches him and performs some throatsinging. Ondar is impressed, and through a series of events, visits Tuva in 1995 and performs in a competition there. This film is the account of his visit. Pena is an inspiring character-soulful, humorous, real, a fantastic musician, and fragile. You don't want this movie to end. The people of Tuva are incredibly warm and the landscape is gorgeous. Pena and the small group which accompanies him has some medical problems and logistical problems in Tuva which makes the movie even more interesting. That said, if you love music, you should check out this movie. Paul Pena and Kongar are inspirational figures and this is just the sort of unconventional topic to be illuminated by a documentary. Filmmaker Roko Belic took four years to secure the financing and support to edit and have the film released. It truly is one for all lovers of humanity and music.

Torch-6 You may have heard about "harmonic singing" or "Throat Singing," in which the performer can isolate two-to-several harmonics on their vocal cords, giving the impression that more than one voice is singing. Such a description is like saying Shakespeare wrote a couple of plays.Harmonic singing is endemic to the nation of Tannu Tuva, once a member of the USSR, now just Tuva. Brought to some notoriety by famous physicist Richard Feynman and his student Ralph Leighton, Tuva is a beautiful place, reminiscent of Montana--if Montana had been settled by the Mongol Hordes.But throat-singing is an enchanting, mystical, unreal sound--and one that takes some getting used to. "Genghis Blues" chronicles the journey of a blind bluesman to Tannu Tuva, after he stumbled across a Radio Moscow broadcast of Tuvan throat-singing, his journey to Tuva, and the people he meets there. Nominated for best documentary oscar (insert trademark nonsense here) for 1999, this film is a must-see for those who enjoy vicarious travel to places you've never even heard of.

Robert Reynolds This documentary follows Paul Pena, a blind blues musician (and the songwriter behind Jet Airliner, a hit for the Steve Miller Band) and a group of friends to a place called Tuva for a competition in "throatsinging", which Pena had come across and decided to learn. The documentary is a fascinating look at Tuva (part of Mongolia now under Russian control), "throatsinging" (an acquired taste, but worth hearing at least once) and Paul Pena's adventures on the trip as well as his feelings about the whole thing. Most recommended.