Huo Meng’s second feature, Living the Land, had its world premier on the 14th February at the 75th Berlianle, as the first film to be screened in the Competition lineup.
Compared to his first feature Crossing the Border – Zhaoguan (2018), a countryside road movie centred on the relationship between a little boy and his grandfather, Huo Meng chose to explore a similar theme this time, candidly presenting rural China of 1990s through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy.
★★★☆☆ 3/5
In 1991 rural China, as villagers migrate to cities for better opportunities, 10-year-old Xu Chuang (Wang Shang) remains in his hometown, Bawangtai Village in Henan Province, living with his grandparents.
The film avoids narrative steeped in contrived bitterness or misery, instead offering a slow and candid recording of what happened in these two families and this village. Nothing really happens yet everything is happening. And each character’s personality is gradually brought out through the rhythms of daily life – events, conversations, and rituals.
Interestingly, every woman in these two families possesses a vivid and dynamic spirit, yet they bear the weight of all responsibilities- taking care of their impotent husbands and sons, sacrificing for their brothers, and taking on the bulk of household labor. But, in the end, they are long forgotten over the course of history. Huo’s sympathy for women is evident in his portrayal, but it lingers as a quiet, unspoken sorrow rather than an overt statement.
The story is told from Chuang’s perspective and his world is defined by the people around him. He shares a close bond with his great-grandmother (Zhang Yanrong), and his aunt Xiuying (Zhang Chuwen). When two of his closest family members disappear from his life – great grandmother’s death and aunt Xiuying’s forced marriage to a rich family’s son – his world is changing. And the delivery is intriguingly calm and repressed: when Chuang is holding great grandmom’s urn, it accidentally drops. The long lens brings us up close to her ashes scattered over the country road. On wedding day of his favourite auntie Xiuying, he leans against the bus door with all his strength, desperately trying to hold onto her. The camera lingers on his small, forlorn figure as he ultimately fails.
When his intellectually disabled relative, Jihua, dies, Chuang’s world crumbles once again. This time, his disoriented emotions take shape in surreal storytelling to exaggerate his confusion and fear towards the fast changing environment.
Throughout, Huo Meng well balances critique and restraint. A brutal yet understated history of rural China slowly unfolds through birth and death, funerals and wedding. The one-child policy, plasma economy, outdated rural customs, and daily trivialities form the silhouette of Chinese society of 1990s. And the vast green wheat fields, over which the bicycle rides again and again, silently bears witness to the profound life changes of thousands of Chinese farmers. The story, we know, will continue on this land.
Living the Land (Competition)’s director Hua Meng won the Silver Bear for Best Director award at this year’s Berlinale.
