Despite
some modern developments, the principle of beekeeping remains pretty much the
same. Bees in a comb produce honey. Perhaps that is why it appeals to the
traditional seventy-something “Lao” Yu Yangui, but not so much to his restless
son Yu Maofu. The son has just returned from a year studying and working in a
big city, but it will be an awkward homecoming for the Yu family, as Diedie
Weng documents in The Beekeeper and his
Son (trailer
here),
which screens during DOC NYC 2016.
Having
fallen under the sway of urban life and values, the son has notions of creating
a boutique honey label. In contrast, the father insists he learn the Beekeeping
trade, step by customary step. They do not just argue over beekeeping. Pigsty
maintenance issues practically bring them to DEFCON one. Although she pretends
to be impartial, Maofu’s mother Chengnuo Chang clearly sides with her son.
Meanwhile, old Yu struggles with his own filial issues when he faces his distant
ninety-year-old mother’s increasing infirmity and dementia.
Beekeeper certainly captures
the generational gap in contemporary China, but it only hints at the rural
versus urban disparities. It is very micro in its focus, unlike Tianlin Xu’s
thematically related Coming and Going.
Nor does it have the same urgency as Fan Jian’s My Land, which captures the relentless campaign to evict a family
of migrant share-croppers (and also features a goose on its one-sheet).
However, old Yu emerges as a keenly compelling, somewhat contradictory figure:
doting grandfather, stern father, argumentative husband, guilt-ridden son.
There
have been a lot of documentaries focusing on the plight of exploited migrant
workers and thee hardscrabble rural poor. Arguably, Beekeeper is more accessible than some of Wang Bing’s
three-hour-plus documentaries, but it does not have the strong narrative
structure of others, such as My Land.