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Image of movie Shimen
Image of movie Shimen
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Shimen

Stonewalling
Huang Ji, Otsuka Ryuji
Japan 2022
148 min
V'22

Lynn absolviert eine Sprachschule, in der es nicht nur um die Vermittlung von Sprachkenntnissen geht, sondern auch um die Einübung einer Weltgewandtheit, die ihr eben diese Welt untertan machen soll. Sie fühlt sich fremd, ihr Boyfriend dagegen glaubt an das große Geld. Dann stellt Lynn fest, dass sie schwanger ist – und entscheidet Stück für Stück, sich die Regie über ihr Leben zurückzuerobern. Sie reist zu ihren Eltern, um nachzudenken, ist dort jedoch mit dem Überlebenskampf der Familie konfrontiert. Ein ungemein wichtiger, ja notwendiger Film, in dem die Physis gelebter Erfahrung die Hauptrolle spielt, genau beobachtet und mit viel Liebe erzählt. (Katja Wiederspahn)

In their second collaboration, Ryuji Otsuka and Huang Ji offer a complex, heartrending portrait of a young Chinese woman searching for love and identity at a time when everything can and will be bought and sold. Lynn (Honggui Yao) is a 20-year-old college student. But she is caught between her boyfriend Zhang (Long Liu) and her parents (Xiaoxiong Huang and Zilong Xiao), all of whom have diverging plans for her. Zhang insists that Lynn take English classes to improve her marketability. 
But Lynn’s mother, a doctor at a women’s clinic, wants to take advantage of her daughter’s unwanted pregnancy to get her out of a jam, as she is being extorted by a mob boss (Ciu Chi) who blames her for his cousin’s stillbirth. As we follow Lynn through the nine months of her pregnancy, we see her try to pick up odd jobs, mostly pertaining to the commodification of her youth and beauty. Whether it’s trying to sell her eggs to wealthy women looking to conceive, or fulfilling her ambition of becoming a flight attendant (“a pretty girl’s job,” one man remarks), Lynn’s primary currency is her body. And when Covid-19 breaks out, the price of life shifts even more dramatically, becoming a true buyers’ market. (Michael Sicinski)

Huang Ji, Otsuka RyujiTRACE (2013), BEN NIAO (2017)

Huang Ji: UNDERGROUND (2007), THE WARMTH OF ORANGE PEEL (2010, K), JIDAN HE SHITOU (2012)

Otsuka Ryuji​​​​​​​: THE BEIJING ANTS (2014)

Credits
  • Good Move Media
  • Yao Honggui
  • Huang Xiaoxiong
  • Xiao Zilong
  • Otsuka Ryuji
  • Otsuka Ryuji
  • Wang Changrui
  • Wang Xuliang
  • Liao Ching-sung
  • Otsuka Ryuji
  • Du Men
  • Chor Guan Ng
  • Otsuka Ryuji
  • Huang Ji
YGP-Film, Yellow-Green Pi

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society

DCP
Farbe
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