ND/NF ’26: Panda

The Yangtze is truly a river of tears. Throughout history, its floods have been devastating, leading to the deaths of hundred as recently as 2016. According to scientists, the Yangtze also contributes more plastic pollution to the oceans than any other river. Plus, in Nanjing, the bridge over the Yangtze happens to be a notorious site for suicides. Old Xin Qiji can’t do much about pollution or floods but he does his best to prevent suicides in Xinyang Zhang’s Panda, which screens during the 2026 New Directors/New Films.

Xin is a lot like the real-life Chen Si, whose efforts to dissuade potentials suicides on the Yangtze River Bridge were documented in The Angel of Nanjing. However, Xin is literally more poetic, incorporating his verse into the holistic treatment he proscribes for ailing suicide survivors.  Or, perhaps they are ghosts. Regardless, Xin is still there to treat their spiritual and emotional sicknesses.

Apparently, Frog Zhu has taken refuge in delusion, believing himself a mystical dragon rider, who must find a legendary beast to travel back to heaven. At least he no longer shows suicidal tendencies. Slowly, he starts to interact with Zhang’s small distantly interconnected cast of characters, including Pansy, a young woman struggling with her dysfunctional family. Arguably, Panda plays out like Short Cuts on the Yangtze, but with fewer overlapping plot arcs and considerably more emotional distance.

Zhang’s gritty, neo-realist style and affinity for those living on the extreme margins of contemporary Chinese society reflects the influence of his mentor, Jia Zhangke. However, he occasionally veers into surrealist magical realism that shares a kinship with the films of Bi Gan. Frankly, it is a shame he did not lean into the latter more forcefully, because the fantastical detours represent the film’s most powerful sequences. Frankly, Panda would be much more commercial if Zhang had made the scene depicting Old Xin conversing with the spirit of a deceased friend, who now inhabits a panda in the zoo, into a regular motif.

Despite the panda munching on bamboo, Zhang’s Panda is a film intended for a narrow audience. Constantly unpacking is required, but there is substance there. The film also has a punk rock aesthetic that is sometimes surprisingly refreshing. (Still, the two and a half hour running time is undeniably challenging.)

Xianmin Zhang (who is better known as an independent producer) portrays Qin as a true old soul. He consistently reels the film back in, after the director’s more detached episodes, grounding it humanism. Thanks to him, the film rewards those with patience. Recommended for cineastes who respect Jia and Bi, Panda screens today (4/11) at MoMA and tomorrow (4/12) at the Walter Reade, as part of this year’s ND/NF.