Fiction

XUE CHAN

LITTLE MOTH
Peng Tao
VR, China 2007
99 min
V'07

Bought for 1,000 yuans, 11-year old Xiao E'zi («Little Moth») can't walk, but her new «parents», Luo Jiang and his wife Guibua, have a use for her, as they're trying their luck at a new trade: begging in the street. One day they meet a man who is accompanied by Xiao Chun, a one-armed boy employed to beg, who has already been sold three times. Taking advantage of the adults' momentary inattention, the children make a run for it, Xiao Chun carrying the girl on his back. Since their employers deem the children virtually worthless, the two men do not even bother to chase after them. But the mother, who feels keenly for these children, sets outs to find them.
With its straightforward direction and amateur actors, Little Moth offers a harsh depiction of a neglected, forgotten class in Chinese society. Peng's style suggests more than showing, and unfolds the complexity of characters that may be «rough» and «uncouth» yet far from being one-dimensional. They don't speak much, but communicate through daily gestures (cooking, sharing foods or drinks, dressing up poor lodgings) shot in a semi-ethnographic way that calls to mind Hou Hsiao-hsien's first movies.

Credits
  • Zhao Huihui - Xiao E'zi
  • Han Dequn - Song Guibua
  • Zhang Lei - Xiao Chun
  • Hong Qifa - Luo Jiang
  • Gao Yuanbing - Onkel
  • Xu Zelin - Yang Qingcai
  • Peng Tao
  • Huang Yi
  • Wu Zheng
  • Peng Tao
  • Hu Qingsheng
New Youth Independent Film Studio Yangfangdian Road No. 16 Haidian District, 100038, Beijing, China T 10 639 528 41 pengtao17@gmail.com

New Youth Independent Film Studio Yangfangdian Road No. 16 Haidian District, 100038, Beijing, China T 10 639 528 41 pengtao17@gmail.com

Video (Digi Beta)
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