Inc.Ĭast: Zhou Dongyu, Shawn Dou, Xi Meijuan, Jiang Ruijia. Ltd., IDG China Creative Media Ltd., New Classical Entertainment Co. Production: Beijing New Pictures Film Co. Pusan International Film Festival, Opening Film Production quality is top drawer, especially the lighting, which bestows radiance on every inch of Zhou’s translucent young skin. The narrative structure is strictly linear, organized by old fashioned intertitles of quotations from Aimi’s novel, thus giving the film a fusty, literary feel. Perhaps that is why it ends with such an aching sense of loss. What it mourns most is not the transience of youth or of love, but the transience of happiness, especially when its harmless pursuit is systematically obstructed by collective ideology. The meticulous evocation of period detail reflects the film’s elegiac attitude to ephemera. As a result, Sun’s character is rendered at a remove, and he is too perfect to be more than a cipher.Īlmost religious devotion to objects prevails, with a light bulb or a foot basin acquiring symbolic significance as love tokens. The film unfolds mostly from a feminine perspective.
She exudes serene calm even as the melodrama intensifies. Zhou, who is a 17-year-old high school student plucked from thousands of teenage hopefuls, personifies the film - fresh as cut grass, untainted by professional training. In fact, a deep sexual undercurrent rippling under their blushing complexions - when she frolics with him in the pond, wearing the red swimsuit he gave her, when he bandages her feet, or when they lie down together in the hospital bed (his hand goes straight to where it counts). The film’s promotion tagline is “the cleanest romance in history.” Indeed, Zhang’s touch is rarely so delicate in describing the pre-pubescent looking Jingqiu’s perplexity and embarrassment toward Sun’s advances, as well as her naivety (she thinks sharing a bed is enough to cause pregnancy). The couple’s pact to see the blossoming of a hawthorn tree (the landmark of Xiping Village) becomes a symbol of their longing and loyalty. However, since her father is in a re-education camp for being a “Rightist,” she is under tremendous pressure to be on best behavior during her probation as a teacher. Sun takes an instant liking to Jingqiu and courts her with little gifts and frequent visits.Īfter Jingqiu returns to the city, she and Sun begin to date secretly.
She gets to know another “zhiqing” (young city-born intellectual) Sun Jianxing, who’s in the geological unit. Jingqiu (Zhou Dongyu), who is in her last year of high school, is “sent down” to Xiping Village to learn from the peasants, and to conduct research for the school curriculum. Cannes: The 5 Best Books About the FestivalĪdapted from a true story, novelized by Aimi, “Hawthorn” is typical of China in the ’70s.
0 kommentar(er)
