A film by Vivian Qu
With: Liu Haocun, Wen Qi, Zhang Youhao, Zhou You, Peng Jing, Yang Haoyu, Liu Yitie, Geng Le, Jian Kang
Tian Tian, the single mother of a five-year-old daughter, kills a drug dealer and is then pursued for vengeance. The only person she can turn to for help is her female cousin, Fang Di.
Our rate: *
It’s strange to see a film like this selected in competition at the Berlinale. It doesn’t really tick the usual boxes, is neither strong, nor political, nor insightful, nor topical, nor anything else, without being detestable. It’s a little story with its share of mystery, its share of social questioning, particularly on the question of family. Constructed like a jigsaw puzzle that will gradually reveal all its secrets, it lingers, not without interest, on what differentiates two cousins who have lived together and experienced the same family past, but also what brings them together. The director also takes the opportunity to open the hood of choreographed films in which female fighters take to the skies, suspended from a wire that allows them to fly (the film’s English title is Girl on wire), a rare symbol that the film features. The whole thing can be watched without too much boredom, but without any real appeal.
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