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An Elephant Sitting Still

Original title: Da xiang xidi erzuo
  • 2018
  • 3h 50m
IMDb RATING
7.8/10
7.3K
YOUR RATING
An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
Official Trailer
Play trailer2:21
1 Video
99+ Photos
Drama

Four people in a Chinese city live through a complicated day as their lives intersect.Four people in a Chinese city live through a complicated day as their lives intersect.Four people in a Chinese city live through a complicated day as their lives intersect.

  • Director
    • Bo Hu
  • Writer
    • Bo Hu
  • Stars
    • Yu Zhang
    • Yuchang Peng
    • Uvin Wang
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    7.8/10
    7.3K
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Bo Hu
    • Writer
      • Bo Hu
    • Stars
      • Yu Zhang
      • Yuchang Peng
      • Uvin Wang
    • 47User reviews
    • 76Critic reviews
    • 86Metascore
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Awards
      • 21 wins & 44 nominations

    Videos1

    An Elephant Sitting Still
    Trailer 2:21
    Watch An Elephant Sitting Still

    Photos600

    An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    Yuchang Peng in An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    Uvin Wang in An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    Yuchang Peng in An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    Yuchang Peng in An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    Yu Zhang in An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    Wang Ning and Uvin Wang in An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    Zhao-Yan Guo-Zhang in An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    Yuchang Peng in An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    Zi Xi in An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    Yuchang Peng and Uvin Wang in An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)
    An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Yu Zhang
    Yu Zhang
    • Yu Cheng
    Yuchang Peng
    Yuchang Peng
    • Wei Bu
    Uvin Wang
    Uvin Wang
    • Huang Ling
    • (as Wang Yuwen)
    Zi Xi
    • Wang Jin
    • (as Congxi Li)
    Xiangrong Dong
    • Dean
    • (as Xiang Rong Dong)
    Jing Guo
    • Dean's wife
    Zhao-Yan Guo-Zhang
    • Bu's father
    • (as Guozhang ZhaoYan)
    Miaomiao He
    • Cheng's friend's Mother
    Ximan Huang
    • White dog's female owner
    Wei Kong
    • Jin's son-in-law
    Yixin Kong
    • Jin's granddaughter
    Binyuan Li
    • Scapler
    Danyi Li
    • Jin's daughter
    Qing Li
    • White dog's male owner
    Suyun Li
    • Bu's mother
    Zhenghui Ling
    • Li Kai
    Jianmin Liu
    • Bu's uncle
    Wang Ning
    • Ling's mother
    • Director
      • Bo Hu
    • Writer
      • Bo Hu
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      After finishing the movie, writer/director Bo Hu tragically committed suicide in October 2017 at the age of 29. This makes "An Elephant Sitting Still" the only feature film he directed in his lifetime.
    • Goofs
      When Huang Ling jumped from the window, the camera was reflected on the other window in front.
    • Quotes

      Dean: Life just won't get better. It's all about agony. That agony has begun since you were born. You think that a new place will change your fate? It's bullshit. New place, new sufferings. You understand? No one truly knows about existence

    • Connections
      Featured in The Story of Film: A New Generation (2021)

    User reviews47

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    7/10
    A very remarkable debut
    Recently we read a lot in the newspapers about the trade war between the US and China and the fact that it won't take long before China is the biggest economy in the World.

    In "An elephant sitting still" the emphasis is not so much on the economic performance of China but on the environmental disaster that is taking place. The film is set in a dreary landscape, fog is always present and grey is the dominating colour.

    There is not only an environmental disaster going on but also a social one. Most of the people we meet in this film are selfish, indifferent, corrupt and harsh. Maybe they weren't born that way, but in the society portrayed by this movie, in order to survive you can't afford te be sensitive. After finishing this movie the (debuting) director committed suicide. The direct cause was a conflict with the producer over the length of the film, but after seeing the film it is difficult to seperate his suicide from the totally dark image of Chinese society in the film.

    "An elephant sitting still" is an ensemble film. We follow the lives of four main characters during one day. Contrary to for example "Magnolia" (1999, Paul Thomas Anderson) there is no redemption at a deathbed at the end of the film here. One main character compares his life with a garbage bin. The older he gets, the more garbage he collects.

    In "Magnolia" there is a mythical element at the end in the form of a shower of frogs. "An elephant sitting still" has its own mythical element. At the eind of the film we hear the trumpeting of the elephant (without seeing the animal).

    Up to that moment there was only talk about a circus elephant that went on strike and did nothing else than sitting in his cage. It is up to each viewer to interpret the symbolic meaning of this elephant, but in China an elephant is seen as a wise animal and the lethargy to wich he had fallen can be seen as a protest agianst the harshness of the society portrayed in the film.

    For me there was clear link between the elephant in "An elephant sitting still" and the whale in "Werckmeister Harmoniak" (2000, Bela Tarr). A link that beomes even more obvious when I red (after seeing the film) that Bela Tarr was one of the guest teachers of directer Bo Hu.
    helpful•8
    4
    • frankde-jong
    • Jun 10, 2019

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • March 8, 2019 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • China
    • Official sites
      • Capricci Films (France)
      • Dongchun Films (China)
    • Language
      • Mandarin
    • Also known as
      • Un elefante sentado y quieto
    • Filming locations
      • Shijiazhuang City, Hebei Province, China(city)
    • Production company
      • Dongchun Films
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $32,556
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $10,854
      • Mar 10, 2019
    • Gross worldwide
      • $39,599
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      3 hours 50 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.78 : 1

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