Chi Zhang	...	(Director)
	...	(Writer)
Yi Fang	...	Cinematographer

Comments: This isn't for everybody but goddamn is it for me. It gives off strong Long Day’s Journey into Night vibes, for the theme and some of the bumfuck nowhere sets, with a dash of Diao Yi-nan thrown in, but it's a smaller, less ambitious film

Too bad we can't embed images in reviews here because any review of this film should be expressed visually

There's the first rub. People have vastly different tastes in visual art. If you don't like abstract geometric design (from huge to intimate) you probably won't like this film

Second rub is the narrative. It's opaque, to say the least. One can generalize it as the oft used trope of a man in search of someone (or something), which reveals itself to be a man in search of himself. The people the searcher encounters fulfill some metaphorical/abstract puzzle piece and then disappear --- in ways that expand/confound the narrative. I admit I didn't "understand" a lot of this, but it's not here to be understood. I wasn't sure who one very important character was supposed to be until the end credits named her

There's the third rub. Not really a rub, but it's tragic there are no credits for anyone besides the director for this film anywhere. I googled a few from the credit roll and came up empty. On the one hand there's not much wrong with that. China has a billion people. They don't need established pro actors for films. Many of my favorite Mainland films utilize "common people". The women in this film are beautiful (in that finely photographed dark and sad way). All the supporting cast are expertly on point

This is one of those Mainland films that is thoroughly Chinese but seems to exist outside of, or in ignorance of, what Mainland films are ... not necessarily supposed to be as much as go through

I found this film to be incredibly sexy, but that's probably just the result of a director who knows how to photograph women -- in dark (as in dimly) and sad ways. Let's call that a fourth rub because not everyone will find that sexy

The soundtrack is incredible sexy! Almost every bit of music --and even the basic sound design-- struck me as surprisingly cool and appropriate. And not very Chinese, only in the sense that it's not common in Chinese films. There is an extended dance club scene with a pop/rock kinda thing going on that isn't something I'd throw on my iPod, but as it kept going on and on in such a weird (and sexy) context I became hypnotized

I know there must be a boatload of films like this out there (and @willy probably knows about all of them, although I think this might be more established/mainstream than his taste usually goes for -- imagine that!). I love these films that don't give a fuck about anything except what they want to do. But just not giving a fuck isn't enough. You gotta have chops (and align with my personal aesthetic haha)

ps - I'd pay big bux to have this hanging on my wall
I paused the film for several minutes to try and figure this out

Summary: Mr. Zhu has reached a point in his career where he is left with only a few acting offers on the table, so he hops on a ferry in search of his wife, on the island where they first met. It is low season on the island, with few visitors in plain sight. Yet Zhu continues to actively photograph everything on the island. He encounters various islanders, gets familiar with a hotel owner, becomes attracted to a primary school teacher, and engages in romance with the manager of a local dance club. While he begins a fascinating journey, his wife is still nowhere to be found.