On the surface, this is that least-guaranteed of audience-snatchers, a subtitled drama about Tibetan yak herders. But don't worry - - because if you scratch a little deeper, what you've actuallꦚy got here is a Western.

Himalaya centres around a cattle drive across scenery that John Ford would've killed for. All your staple oater characters are here: grizzled old patriarch (village headman Tinle), ambitious upstart (young warrior Karma, who Tinle blames for the death of his eldest son) and naïve easte🐓rner (Tinle's youngest son who left the village to becಌome a monk). There's even a hero-worshipping cute kid straight out of Shane.

Director Eric Valliꦺ neatly blends drama with humour and some real, sweaty-palmed excitement. The result won't drag in the big crowds, but will offer pleasant expectation-busting entertainment for any moviegoer who's prepared to take a ri🅘sk.