China
suffered terribly during the Japanese occupation. They go out of their way to
remind the world of that fact with every other film they officially release. Apparently,
the nation prefers to identify itself as a group of pitiful victims rather than
as a global superpower. A dysfunctional family serves as the latest example.
They will be duly miserable during the waning days of the war in Xing Jian’s Winter
After Winter, which screens as a selection of the 2019 New York Asian Film Festival.
Elderly
Lao Si will soon turn his grown sons over to the local Japanese commander to
[involuntarily] labor in their lumber camp, but he is only incidentally
concerned with their fate. Instead, he has arranged a hasty divorce for his
eldest impotent son, so one of his two younger brothers can impregnate his now
ex-wife, Kun, thereby continuing Lao’s bloodline. Unfortunately, the middle sibling
is too disgusted by it all, so he runs off to join the resistance, whereas the
dim-witted youngest, simply isn’t up to the task.
Kun
rather stoically accepts this unseemly circus, not that anyone is asking her
opinion. Her silence speaks volumes. Likewise, Lao Si’s motor-mouth can be
cringey to listen to. Frankly, his obsession with blood (well beyond that of
the problematic but infinitely more sympathetic characters in Steinbeck’s Burning
Bright) approaches outright creepiness. Yet, Xing, previously an
accomplished painter, maintains a stately slow pace.
Winter
eventually
reaches a profoundly ironic payoff, but many viewers will be hard-pressed to
see it that way. In fact, Xing maintains such a harshly realistic,
matter-of-fact tone, you could almost miss the significant revelations he drops
late in the game. This is definitely austere cinema, but the visual artistry of
Guo Daming’s striking (mostly) black-and-white cinematography is just as apparent, frame
after frame.
As
Kun, Yan Bingyan is a haunting presence, thanks to her demoralized and
downtrodden body language. However, it is Gao Qiang who really dominates the
film as the desperately deceitful Lao Si, debasing himself over small stakes, much
like a William H. Macey character in a Coen Brothers film.
Xing’s
film has too many bitterly dark plot-points to truly be classified as “slow
cinema,” but it is still “slow-ish.” His long takes are impressively composed, but
they demand the viewer’s close attention. Interestingly, he also somewhat
humanizes the Japanese commander, which definitely distinguishes Winter from
the field. Only recommended for hardcore cineastes who will respect its
integrity, Winter After Winter screens tomorrow (7/5), during the 2019
NYAFF.
