Mysterious, oppressive and occasionally shocking film in stylised black-and-white (shot by a colleague director Zhang Yuedong) about the latter days of a potentate: Wu Ye was a respected soldier, but his clan is now preparing a Last Supper for the Spring Festival.
The fact that there are now signs of growing diversity in style, theme and approach in Chinese independent fiction film is clear from the first film by the versatile Wu Quan. In contrasty, very sharp black-and-white (shot by cameraman Zhang Yuedong, who directed the minimalist-absurdist Mid-Afternoon Barks), Sentimental Animal is a meticulously styled, occasionally sensitive and sometimes shocking allegory that will not easily be forgotten.
Wu has made a film about the latter days of a Chinese patriarch. This former soldier and owner of the fish farm where the events take place became physically handicapped after a heroic deed. Although he can no longer speak and needs help from his nurse for virtually all his actions, he is still the respected leader of his clan. But now he is approaching his end and takes on his last, difficult task.
In spite of the skeleton story, we saw an intriguing sequence of events and unpredictable things happen. The binding story is simplistic: New Years Eve, family comes together, pater familias is seriously ill, everyone assumes this time to be the last, etcetera. But all this is not relevant to enjoy this movie. In fear of spoiling I'll refrain from telling more about what happened.
The final Q&A with the director provided for useful extra information. The reason for using black and white was only the budget, and no inherent meaning should be construed from it. Originally there was a script, but after a few shooting days, some of the actors had other obligations, hence the script was thrown out of the window. The title is also devoid of any special meaning, just a random choice out of alternatives that could equally be as good or bad. It applies to the donkeys as slaughtered in the opening scene, fish as the prime business of the fish farm where most scenes are located, and last-but-not-least humans, the latter being the worst kind of animals.
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Webreview from JvH48 on 05 February 11:11
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Mark as improper
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