NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL, July 14–30, 2023

[Chris Knipp]

ZHANG WEI: THE RIB (DIRECTOR'S CUT) 肋骨 2018



A dutiful, but important film about transgender in China

Thirty-two-year-old designer Huanyu knows he is a woman born as a man and has a support system of transgender friends, doctors and his straight best friend/roommate. However, sex reassignment surgery legally requires parental approval and Huanyu's pious Christian father views it as a deadly sin. This breakthrough film illustrates the intense stigma and obstacles that the LGBTQ+ community must face in China, offering an inside look at both the marginalized and those who condemn them. Striking black-and-white cinematography with an occasional glimmer of color underlines both the authenticity and hypocrisy portrayed in this stinging real-life drama.

This film ends with a gathering, hand in hand, of a dozenChinese trans gender persons.
It is happy to see Huanyu with her father, who has come around and can smile and approve his offspring's becoming who she wants to be. We get a scene in a government office where a functionary arranges with the person to change both name and gender on their ID.

These are important moments and this may be a significant film for trans people in China. However, the anemic black and white, changed so the transformed trans person at t end can be red where everything else is monochromatic, fits in with a generally drab and lackluster feel. The whole film is a bit of a slog. This is dutiful, well-meaning filmmaking and, with its lengthy and boring Christian episodes, clearly overlong.

Director: Zhang Wei
Cast: Huang Jingyi, Yuan Weijie, Deng Gao, Hao Meng
Languages: Mandarin with English Subtitles
2018; 143 min.