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If the “slacker movie” moment happened in the U.S. in part as a new generation’s reaction against the economic boom — and growing income inequality — of the 1980s and ’90s, it’s high time a similar indie movement emerged in China, where rampant economic expansion and its many casualties have been the ceaseless story of the past four decades. And perhaps it will, now that there’s an unassumingly perfect foundational text in Wei Shujun’s debut feature, .
Certainly, in terms of storyline, those touch points are more evident in Wei’s episodic, personal narrative than are Hou Hsiao-hsien or Wong Kar-wai or even Hong Sang-soo — the filmmakers overtly name-checked by Ming (Wang Xiaomu), the director of the film-within-a-film in this mischievously meta long-form doodle. Ming is making his thesis film — the semi-improvised story of a Mongolian herdswoman searching for her husband in a Beijing amusement park — and has...
Certainly, in terms of storyline, those touch points are more evident in Wei’s episodic, personal narrative than are Hou Hsiao-hsien or Wong Kar-wai or even Hong Sang-soo — the filmmakers overtly name-checked by Ming (Wang Xiaomu), the director of the film-within-a-film in this mischievously meta long-form doodle. Ming is making his thesis film — the semi-improvised story of a Mongolian herdswoman searching for her husband in a Beijing amusement park — and has...
- 12/29/2021
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
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As my time at the 56th Chicago International Film Festival starts to wind down, I’ve been thinking about movies. Who knew? More specifically, I’ve been thinking about the selections of some other festivals that, for obvious reasons, didn’t come to fruition. What about Cannes 2020? Funnily enough, two of four of today’s picks were official selections for that very event. It’s nice to have been able to see them, even if they didn’t both pay off.
First of the pair was the United States premiere of Striding into the Wind (Grade: C), Wei Shujun’s feature debut, which, despite its pluses, succumbs to some familiar failings of a director’s first film. Its parts just don’t fit, and a lot of that has to do with the pacing. Over-extended at 130 minutes, it demonstrates Wei’s promise as a technical filmmaker, but one hopes he...
First of the pair was the United States premiere of Striding into the Wind (Grade: C), Wei Shujun’s feature debut, which, despite its pluses, succumbs to some familiar failings of a director’s first film. Its parts just don’t fit, and a lot of that has to do with the pacing. Over-extended at 130 minutes, it demonstrates Wei’s promise as a technical filmmaker, but one hopes he...
- 10/19/2020
- by Matt Cipolla
- The Film Stage
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