By WILLIAM J. WRIGHT
Most of what the typical Westerner knows of Mongolia is limited to a vague awareness of Genghis Khan and what they may have picked from a National Geographic documentary. This ignorance has led to a false perception of the nation, especially among Americans. Despite its sparse population of around three million people spread over 603,900 square miles, Mongolia has a thriving and rapidly growing film culture. While much of Mongolian narrative cinema has focused on historical epics set against the sweeping backdrop of the Eurasian Steppe, younger filmmakers, many influenced by American film, are boldly moving into new genres.
Among this new breed is director Baatar Batsukh. Already a respected cinematographer renowned for his work on such films as 2019’s The Steed, Batsukh seeks to make a name for himself as a director outside his home country with his first feature, ABERRANCE.
Now in theaters, Batsukh’s film stars Erkhembayar Ganbat as Erkhme, who, under doctor’s orders, brings his emotionally disturbed artist wife, Selenge, played by Selenge Chadraabal, to a secluded home in the Mongolian countryside to escape the stress of the city. However, the seemingly tranquil setting does little for Selenge’s state of mind, as she descends deeper into madness. Exacerbating an already tense situation is an intrusive neighbor with unknown intentions toward the troubled couple. Surprisingly Western in style, ABERRANCE combines Hitchcockian suspense with shockingly brutal bursts of violence and some truly effective plot twists.
Recently, Batsukh and executive producers Trevor Doyle (who also co-wrote the film) and Alexa Khan (who also graciously served as Batsukh’s translator for this interview) sat down with RUE MORGUE to talk about the making of ABERRANCE.
Thanks for speaking with RUE MORGUE. ABERRANCE is the first Mongolian horror film to get a theatrical release in the U.S. How did it come about?
Producer Trevor Doyle
Trevor Doyle: We worked on a film called The Steed with Baatar some years ago. And Baatar was the cinematographer for that film. We knew that Baatar wanted to direct, but we were trying to come up with what he needed to do to get noticed. And if you’ve seen Mongolian films before, they’re very epic films. They’re big. And the acting is big. Unless you like those types of movies, you’re not really going to notice them.
We knew that we needed to do something different – something that’s not a common Mongolian film. So, I was like, you know, we really should be doing? Horror. Baatar was like, I’m not really a fan of horror. Especially for what he was thinking of for directing. But once we started talking about it, he was like, okay, well, maybe this will work. Now, I can tell you, he’s a fan of horror. He totally gets it. And, you know, I think he’s quite good at it.
Mongolian directors have a tendency to do everything very big, and that’s a skill. Baatar’s self-taught. He’s a self-taught cinematographer, a self-taught director, and it’s amazing to me that he has that ability to do something big but also get those intimate, small scenes and those intricate performances from actors. He’s amazing.
Bataar, I imagine you’re more aware of the cameras than many directors might be. Many of your shots in ABERRANCE are very unnerving. How does your background as a cinematographer influence your directorial style?
(L-R) Director Baatar Batsukh and Assistant Camera Operator Lkhagvatsend Tsetseg. Photo courtesy of Baigaltu.
Baatar Batsukh: This was very liberating. I had these shots and the story in mind. I already had this visual plan, so I was able to execute it thoroughly because this is my story. Because I directed it, I felt free to collaborate with the camera ops. Usually, the director just manages everything, and then the camera ops will just help, but with this one, because I had the vision, I wanted to do it. I gave a lot of responsibility to the camera ops. Obviously, it was a collaborative effort, but I just felt so free. And it was absolutely an enjoyable experience because I was able to direct and do what I wanted.
As far as telling the story through the camera, I used a lot of long shots, with no interruptions –no cutting into close-ups and different angles. I want the audience to experience the film as if they were there with the actors. And I wanted to capture the lives of those characters as if they were absolutely real. In real life, we don’t have these cut shots. We don’t have these cutscenes in our lives. We just have this continuous life.
How did the story develop?
Producer Alexa Khan
Alexa Khan: Like Trevor was saying earlier, it was an idea that we wanted to do after The Steed and Baatar has been a cinematographer for over fifteen years and has worked on almost 30 movies. He’s been wanting to direct, and then it just happened perfectly. Everything just aligned. And then, the idea behind this movie is something that he truly gets bothered by, especially in Mongolia. The current society, the current economic and political face of Mongolia, he’s deeply bothered by. So he wanted to tell this story through this genre because it gives the most impact.
The meaning behind it is to be in control of yourself, and don’t believe everything that you hear. Be in charge of yourself or somebody else will. With that idea and with a confined space of just one location, the story came about.
I think we can also really relate to that here in the West, too, because we are facing very, very similar situations. In fact, the film has a very Western feel to it. I think, as North Americans, we have an idea of what we consider “Asian cinema,” but this film seems as if it could have worked just as well with an American cast. Was ABERRANCE designed to appeal to a wider audience? And specifically a North American or Western European audience?
AK: The thinking behind it is definitely to appeal to a wider audience. And just like Trevor was saying, Mongolians tend to do these big epic movies with horses and big steppes. This is something that is very close up. [It’s] a very personal type of film. You know, you’re so intuitive. We are working on a universe [around] this film, and it will appeal internationally.
TD: We do have this concept of a greater cinematic universe. [We] also want to step outside of the horror genre and add stories connected to this story in different genres of film. That’s definitely part of the plan.
We also want to get Mongolian cinema seen in the same light as Japanese and Korean cinema because right now, it’s changing. When we made The Steed, if you told people that you made an Asian film, they just assumed it was Korean or Japanese or Chinese. When you said, Mongolia, they were like, where’s that? We’re gonna change this. I think this film has really broken those barriers, and people are like, wow, we need to see more Mongolian cinema … We’re really grateful for that. We weren’t sure what was going to happen in America, and it’s really working out. I feel like Americans are seeing this, and they’re giving it a chance. They’re broadening their horizons, and we’re so grateful for that.
As you said, most Americans know next to nothing about Mongolia. Does Mongolia have a horror fan culture? Are horror films popular there?
TD: They’re actually not. They’re very unusual in Mongolia. But I can tell you that this particular film did very well in Mongolia. In a real sense, it’s like a first in Mongolia and a first in the U.S. It’s kind of hitting two different cultures in the right way. I feel like this film will spur on a lot more horror films in Mongolia now.
Baatar, I noticed there is a dedication at the end of ABERRANCE to filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. Tell me about how his work influenced the film. Do you have other Western influences?
BB: I’m a huge fan of Darren Aronofsky. He’s a master of the mystery thriller. I loved Mother! because it was shot all in one location, and it was so intense. That’s why ABERRANCE is also in one location. How do you make it so intense? How do you make it very interesting? That’s how the story was driven – one location in mind. And that’s how it came out.
Obviously, I love Steven Spielberg and James Cameron, but lately, I’ve been loving Christopher Nolan’s movies because he tries to use as little CGI as possible. He likes just being raw, and that’s what I like to do, too. I want to portray life as real as possible and without using a whole lot of CGI. With Darren Aronofsky and with other directors, I just get so inspired and want to create more and do better.
What do you hope audiences take away from the film? How do you want them to feel as they leave the theater?
The real message of the film is just that if you’re not actually taking charge of your own life, the powers that be will take charge of it for you. Another strong element of the story is we’re all quietly complicit in allowing the powers that be to feed off of us. I think that the real horror in this is just the idea that in your normal life that you think you’re living, you’re actually supplying people that you’re not even aware of with what they need … I feel like people will get that when they sit and ruminate on what they saw. And inside of that, the message is about the way we’re fed our reality.
ABERRANCE from Freestyle Digital Media is now playing in select theaters.
