RIZHAO CHONQING (CHONQING BLUES)
China, 2010, 110 minutes, Colour.
Wang Xueqi.
Directed by Wang Xiaoshuai.
A personal journey by a father who has abandoned his family long since. An investigation by the father into his son’s death, like a detective story except that the puzzle is not who did it but who was the personality who did it and what were his motives.
An impressive film in performance, visual style and humane content.
The city of Congqing is photographed in broad cityscapes and in great detail, making the city and its environs like a character in the plot. However, it is Wang Xuequi as Lin, the now dignified and restrained older man, that gives the film its power. As he moves from encounter to encounter, with his working friends, his angry abandoned wife, his son’s best friend, the victims in the supermarket hostage situation, the doctor taken as hostage, the wounded security guard, the young man’s estranged girlfriend and the policeman who shot the son, we are continually building a portrait of a character as well as a re-creation of the crime which is available only in newspaper articles and in security TV footage.
Each of the persons questioned is given a solid character to reveal even if the time available to them is short.
There is hope at the end although it is puzzling that, while the screenplay makes a great deal of the effect of the father leaving home when his son was ten, Lin himself makes no admission of any guilt. It is the quest that shows the depths of his sadness.
1. The strong impact of the film? Human drama, detective-style investigation?
2. The city, the powerful use of the visuals, the cityscapes, buildings, waterfront, cable cars, police stations, homes, supermarket, hospital? The contrast with the coast and the beach? Realism? The light score, the moods and atmosphere?
3. The title, melancholy?
4. A father’s journey, seeing him arrive, settle, the mystery? His seeing the worker after fourteen years? Back-story, leaving his wife and son, remarrying, the second son (and the phone calls to them)? No explanation of his leaving, the news of his son’s death, his need to know?
5. The father’s investigation, like detective work, the interrogations, the puzzles and pieces, memories? The effect on him, his intensity, quiet, upset with the policeman, not speaking of his self-blame? But his quest as blaming himself?
6. The visit to his ex-wife, her anger, shutting the door, throwing the newspapers at him, her friend and his attack? At the shop and her packing, her defiance, silent and angry, hatred? His going back, putting the foot in the door, her going to the river with him, her speech about her son, his ashes in the sea where he wanted to go?
7. Jin, working on the clocks, chatting, the meal with his wife? Hao and his surliness? Meeting Hao later, the information, enlarging the photo of his son? At the hospital? Hao accompanying him to the clubs? The information about Bo’s girlfriend? Bo hating his father, Hao hating his father? His illness, a sense of loss? Lin putting his hand on Hao’s shoulder, the relationship theme?
8. Jim, going to hospital, saved in time, Lin’s visit, his family, Hao’s grief?
9. The police, their help, not able to give information, the officer who shot the boy, the meeting, memories, sense of duty, the reality of the siege?
10. The discussion with the stabbed guard?
11. The use of security television, the black and white images, jerky, the contrast with the flashbacks? Hao and the enlarging of Bo’s photo?
12. The shop assistant, her story, being stabbed?
13. The doctor, her moving to help the victims, taken, the five hours in the storeroom, the initial attempt to escape, Bo’s phone calls, the girlfriend and her turning off the phone, the talk, the noodles coming – the moment of death? Hao and his statement that the last phone call was to him but he had turned his mobile off?
14. The girlfriend, agreeing to meet Lin, at the university, meeting Bo online, the relationship, the incident at the zoo, Hao and Bo stealing the emu? Going to the beach, Bo finding his stepbrother, playing with him, realising the truth, her fears?
15. The overall picture of Bo, twenty-five, hatred, the search for his father, wanting to go to sea?
16. Hao and the burning of the photo on the shore, Lin and the completion of his quest? The irony of the others having no photos? His returning to his family? Some hope?
