This film was as one critic put it anodyne and I agree with that, I thought I was seeing an American drama, then I thought it was Korean, didnt even know it was a covid film, and then it hit me its just an annoying meaningless Covid simulation to put a kind if sanitized face on the whole situation.
Western university scholar statisticians have already concluded ar Princeton and elsewhere that lockdowns only will have prevented 0.2% of the total deaths.... Which means an age related policy with the use of monoclonal antibodies woukd have been entirely sufficient for this pandemic.... Both China and West (Canada) have shown they have the same traits in common.
I have seen many films like this, and this one just was stale as it had an agenda. The only good thing about this film was the cinematography, the audio felt authentic. The film was mostly shot with a blue hue and some of the internal home scenes with a red hue.
There was only two people at the showing including me, I spent most time on my phone at the back listening to Jorden B Peterson I just could follow the story for more than about 20% of the film with some of the better character elements buy it failed to deliver ad it focused to hard on the five sections of protagonists, more public interactions would have given the film a stronger vibe.
The film also ignores the much more gritty later Shanghai and Tianjin lockdowns of 2021 Christmas and New Years. Xi's handling of this situation I think deserves some criticism, none of the political drama we have seen in the West, no sense of the international dimension in the film.
The child scenes were bizarre and paranoid and reflected hysteria and or delerious introversion.
The film kind of droned on too long being over the full two hours, one thing it did show was a kind of modernization in China society however, a lot of use of comfy and soft fabrics almost seemed to be a theme and part of the montage and pastiche of the film some how regarding the gazing and panning closeups so at least the cinemmatography was visceral and had an ability to pull in the viewer.... There was a change in styke as the film progressed into almost as if a close up partner or ghost was hovering in the scenes focusibg close on detail, getting more sweeping and dream like taking away from the more anxious and suffocating scenes like in the hospitals.... But somehow it just didnt cone across as authentic for some reason, especially with one characyer beating himself uo for half the movie because too many patients died on his section on his watch consecutively, so the shame element here is preserved with trauma that really could have done more in terms of showing more grown up reflections rather than constant self loathing and feelings of failure.... For half the film.
There was missing strong senses of resokution, the film felt too padded and then swam into candyfloss corners.
