Manakamana (2014)
79%RT Audience Score: 61%
Awards & Nominations: 6 wins & 13 nominations
Manakamana is a cinematic masterpiece that takes the mundane act of riding a cable car and transforms it into a hypnotic and serene experience. Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez’s documentary is a structural game that is both contemplative and playful, revealing the passengers’ personalities through their costumes, silence, chatter, and posture. The film’s simplicity is its strength, as it delves deeper into cultural contemplation and ethnographic study. It’s a slow cinema experience that challenges its audience to fill in the story and bring their perceptions and prejudices to what they see on the screen. Manakamana is a must-see for anyone who appreciates meditative, beautiful, and utterly fascinating documentaries.
Manakamana is like a slow ride on a rollercoaster, but instead of loops and drops, you get to witness the mundane yet fascinating lives of people riding a cable car. It’s like people-watching on steroids, and you can’t help but get lost in the hypnotic rhythm of the film. From old ladies eating ice cream to goats being transported to the temple, Manakamana is a unique and beautiful documentary that will leave you feeling serene and contemplative.
Production Company(ies)
Castle Rock Entertainment,
Distributor
Cinema Guild
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Nepal
MPAA / Certificate
Not Rated
Year of Release
2014
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:NA
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Runtime:1h 58m
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Language(s):Nepali, English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Apr 18, 2014 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 19, 2014
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
documentary, Nepal, cable cars, Hindu temple, goddess, Manakamana, Stephanie Spray, Pacho Velez, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel, Cinema Guild, reviewed by J Hoberman, Mark Kermode, Donald Clarke, Nick Pinkerton, Kate Muir, Henry Barnes, Dustin Chang, Jordan M Smith, Michael J Casey, David Harris, C.J Prince, genre, box office performance, budget, producer, MPAA rating, audience score, critic score, limited release, streaming release, cinematographer, film editing, original language, cultural contemplation, ethnographic study, patient viewers, haunting experience, tranquil pace, singularly haunting experience, slow cinema, structural game, meditative, beautiful, utterly fascinating, top horror movies, MCU movies, Netflix series, TV premiere dates, worst horror movies, renewed and cancelled TV shows, anticipated movies, anticipated TV and streaming
Worldwide gross: $30,029
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $37,529
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 3,097
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 4,093
US/Canada gross: $30,029
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $37,529
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,773
US/Canada opening weekend: $3,635
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $4,543
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,807
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Pacho Velez – Director
Lucien Castaing-Taylor – Producer
Verena Paravel – Producer
Pacho Velez – Cinematographer
Stephanie Spray – Film Editing
Director(s)
Stephanie Spray, Pacho Velez
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Verena Paravel
Film Festivals
Toronto
Awards & Nominations
6 wins & 13 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (54) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (52) | Rotten (2)
Hypnotic and serene.
March 28, 2017
J. Hoberman
The New York Review of Books
TOP CRITIC
If only the viewing environment were more suited to casual contemplation, allowing the audience (like the passengers) to dip in and out of the car in 10-minute stretches.
December 14, 2014 | Rating: 3/5
Mark Kermode
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Manakamana works as a tone poem, a Warholian revel in the mundane and an ethnographic study of an isolated corner.
December 12, 2014 | Rating: 5/5
Donald Clarke
Irish Times
TOP CRITIC
Though its subject matter doesn’t seem particularly fun on the surface, Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez’s Manakamana is a sort of structural game, by turns contemplative and, yes, playful.
December 11, 2014
Nick Pinkerton
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
Boring? Absolutely not. Strangely revealing, meditative and funny? Yes, as passengers reveal themselves by costume, silence, chatter and posture, rising up through a hazy, green landscape into the clouds where Manakamana.
December 11, 2014 | Rating: 4/5
Kate Muir
Times (UK)
TOP CRITIC
We’re basically gawking at a commute.
December 11, 2014 | Rating: 3/5
Henry Barnes
Guardian
TOP CRITIC
The film’s so simple in its concept yet so profound. Thoroughly absorbing, but my favorite ride is two old Indian ladies eating ice cream bars, laughing all the way down.
February 22, 2021
Dustin Chang
Floating World
Certainly a hard film to sell to your average filmgoer, Manakamana is surprisingly watchable thanks to its languorous pacing that naturally encourages cultural contemplation.
November 3, 2020 | Rating: 4/5
Jordan M. Smith
IONCINEMA.com
Slow cinema doesn’t get much slower than this.
August 12, 2020 | Rating: 3.5/5
Michael J. Casey
Boulder Weekly
Manakamana is a dare, a challenge to its audience, one that trusts us to fill in the story, bring our perceptions and prejudices to what we see on the screen.
November 22, 2019 | Rating: 3.5/5
David Harris
Spectrum Culture
The concept may be simple, but it delves a lot deeper than most other documentaries.
June 27, 2019 | Rating: 7.4/10
C.J. Prince
Way Too Indie
It’s meditative, beautiful, utterly fascinating, and one of the year’s finest documentary achievements.
April 3, 2019 | Rating: 4/5
Ben Nicholson
CineVue…
Plot
Manakamana is a documentary that follows visitors to an ancient Hindu temple in Nepal as they ride cable cars to the site of a shrine to the wish-fulfilling goddess Manakamana.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels doesn’t provide any goofy or funny comments about Manakamana, but it does mention that the documentary was directed by Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez.
Stephanie-Spray.jpg
