This is as close as you can get to real Chinese life. Having lived in China for almost 20 years myself, watching this movie came as a shock of recognition, while refusing to admit this IS reality at the bottom of the modern Chinese society. A remarkable accomplishment of director Hu Bo who must have witnessed this kind of life himself. It's intriguing to see the camera following all the main characters from up close with their environment at a blurred and vague distance behind. I can't recall having seen any movie this gloomy and depressing with no way to escape from this messy and dehumanized society.
True, some scenes wouldn't occur in real life. Where Wei Bu addresses old Wang Jin to give him money in exchange for his cue, anyone in China would ignore this or simply react with distrust. Yet it's functional within Hu Bo's story of the intermingled lives of the 4 main characters. Huang Ling, a young female student, tries to make the best out of her life but can't resist the temptation of dating her teacher who comforts her with a caring and human approach, so different from her bullyishing and hateful mother. In real life Chinese mothers would still use and not waste their daughters in their struggle with a hostile world.
With this movie Hu Bo delivers a message that reads like manifest, showing a city that slowly degrades and where hope is lost for those living inside. Becoming street sellers is the final destiny of young people who experience only detachment from their parents where anger and punishment rules the relation and love and respect becomes a rarity. Yet hope flares up when brave student Wu Bo resists to accept his humiliation and presents an a oddly wish to escape his life, tempting others to do the same in search for a sitting elephant at the border town Manzhouli, a nearly 2000 km away from their town, an absurd detail mainland Chinese wouldn't miss.
We can only imagine how personally director Hu Bo was involved with his last movie, as we try to comprehend why he took his life just after completing his movie, even before it's official release. Yes, there was a dispute with his producer about the length of the movie, a nearly 4 hours, a tiring challenge for any viewer, while 2 hours would be sufficient to portray the essential content of the film. But Hu Bo wasn't' about to compromise, unfortunately. Therefore, see his full version as a tribute to him.
True, some scenes wouldn't occur in real life. Where Wei Bu addresses old Wang Jin to give him money in exchange for his cue, anyone in China would ignore this or simply react with distrust. Yet it's functional within Hu Bo's story of the intermingled lives of the 4 main characters. Huang Ling, a young female student, tries to make the best out of her life but can't resist the temptation of dating her teacher who comforts her with a caring and human approach, so different from her bullyishing and hateful mother. In real life Chinese mothers would still use and not waste their daughters in their struggle with a hostile world.
With this movie Hu Bo delivers a message that reads like manifest, showing a city that slowly degrades and where hope is lost for those living inside. Becoming street sellers is the final destiny of young people who experience only detachment from their parents where anger and punishment rules the relation and love and respect becomes a rarity. Yet hope flares up when brave student Wu Bo resists to accept his humiliation and presents an a oddly wish to escape his life, tempting others to do the same in search for a sitting elephant at the border town Manzhouli, a nearly 2000 km away from their town, an absurd detail mainland Chinese wouldn't miss.
We can only imagine how personally director Hu Bo was involved with his last movie, as we try to comprehend why he took his life just after completing his movie, even before it's official release. Yes, there was a dispute with his producer about the length of the movie, a nearly 4 hours, a tiring challenge for any viewer, while 2 hours would be sufficient to portray the essential content of the film. But Hu Bo wasn't' about to compromise, unfortunately. Therefore, see his full version as a tribute to him.