NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS 2020 (March 25-April 5, 2020)

[Chris Knipp]

GU XIAOGANG: DWELLING IN THE FUCHUN MOUNTAINS (2019)



[Watched; not reviewed]

Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains
Gu Xiaogang, China, 2019, 150m
Fuyang dialect and Mandarin with English subtitles
New York Premiere
Taking its title from a renowned 14th Chinese scroll painting by Huang Gongwang, this debut feature from Gu Xiaogang is a panoramic evocation of one year in the life of a provincial family. In tribute to its artistic inspiration, the film often presents its action from a quiet distance, the camera lyrically moving across the frame as its central characters—the members of the sprawling Yu family, overseen by an aging matriarch (Du Hongjun), whose birthday celebration opens the film—deal with business and romantic entanglements, financial debts and work struggles. All the while the seasons inexorably change. Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains was shot over the course of two years, and is the first in a declared trilogy of films about life along the Yangtze River—a first-time filmmaker’s labor of love that’s as accomplished as it is ambitious.

Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains 富春山居圖, 150 mins., debuted at Zurich; nine other international festivals, including Zurich, Hamburg, Vancouver, Busan, ,Tokyo, Rotterdam, Gothenberg and New Directors/New Films; it is not included in the delayed virtual Dec. 2020 version of ND/NF, however.