Difference between revisions of "And the Spring Comes"

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Movie: And the Spring Comes
Chinese: 立春 (Li Chun)
Director: Changwei Gu
Writer: Qiang Li
Producer:
Cinematography:
Premiere: October 23, 2007 (Rome Film Festival)
Theatrical Release Date: April 10, 2008 (China)
Runtime: 94 min.
Language: Mandarin
Country: China

Plot

Cailing Wang (Wenli Jiang) teaches music at the local school and frequently reminds those around her that she will one day leave for Beijing. She meets a painter named Huang Sibao (Guangjie Li), who seems to take interests in her, but perhaps more so for her possible connections in Beijing. The couple plans to move to Beijing together, but the painter lets Ms. Wang know that he only thinks of her as a friend. Ms. Wang feels devastated by this admission and eventually jumps off a building in despair. She manages to survive the fall with only a broken arm.

Ms. Wang then makes friend with ballet instructor Mr. Hu (Gang Jiao). She feels a kindred spirit with the man, even though he is ostracized by the whole town because of his profession and homosexual disposition. Regardless of this, Ms. Wang befriends him. Mr. Hu then takes the initiative to ask Ms. Wang to marry him, but just for the sake of being married. Ms. Wang refuses and Mr. Hu feels even more despondent. He then takes more drastic action that gets him taken away.

Cast

Wenli Jiang - Wang Cailing
Jiao Gang - Mr. Hu (ballet dancer)
Guangjie Li - Huang Sibao (painter)
Yajie Wang
Guohua Wu - Zhou Yu
Zhang Yao - Gao Beibei
Xuan Dong - neighbor

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Comments

Ki Feb 19 2011 10:31 am “And the Spring Comes” is the second film from Chinese director Changwei Gu. Prior to Gu taking the director’s seat, he was already well known as an accomplished cinematographer, having worked with the likes of Fifth Generation directors Chen Kaige, and Zhang Yimou. Nice resume right there. While “And the Spring Comes” displays a handful of well composed scenary, the movie is largely focused on the grim realities facing outcasts stuck in a poor Chinese northern town during the 1980’s.

What “And the Spring Comes” tries to convey are the hopes of artists, misfits, and dreamers alike, all stuck in hopelessly dead-end situations. Bleak yes, but the movie offers the occasional light hearted moment (Wang shown with a cast after surviving her fall) to break the heaviness of the main story. Wenli Jiang, the real life wife of director Changwei Gu, does an admirable job playing the main character. Jiang gained 15 pounds for her performance and she did bring out the essence of an ugly duckling attempting to break free from her shell. Although her performance was realistic, it wasn’t necessarily enough to make you truly empathize with her character. Perhaps it was because she refuted a similar ugly duckling early on in the film or perhaps it was caused by the choppy episodic narrative structure of the film itself, but for whatever reason you watched her plight with a palatable detachment rather than true empathy.

Like Wenli Jiang’s performance, the movie does a commendable job reflecting the harsh realities placed on the unfortunate, but a mirror reflection of reality doesn’t necessarily make for a compelling film unless you have something more. With “And the Spring Comes,” you don’t ever feel like you get that something more. If the goal of the was to inspire, it would have helped if one of the characters tasted success. Adoption is also haphazardly brought up in the film, but that act felt more like an abrupt acknowledgment of defeat rather than an act to be celebrated. To compound that feeling, Gu shows Ms. Weng caged in the back-up of a pickup, after making her decision to adopt.

Difference between revisions of "And the Spring Comes"

Latest revision as of 07:05, 12 May 2015

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