Jing li de ren

In this short marked by moral ambivalence, a young boy and girl scour the heavy debris of dilapidated houses. We know nothing of the circumstances of their search, or the cause of death of the people to which they allude. Shot in grainy black-and-white, with a handheld camera that retains a distance towards the protagonists, the film has an ominous aura reminiscent of low-budget sci-fi’s. We can’t be sure if the duo’s aim is to liberate tormented souls or just to satisfy their hunger. Poised between reality and gothic fantasy, motifs of vampirism are used as a grim echo of China’s insatiable hunger for wealth, in line with such forceful social critics as filmmaker Jia Zhangke. (Ela Bittencourt)