An Sai, Shanbei,
An isolated village on the Loess Plateau, Northern China.
Two young outsiders are moving in,
While two young locals are struggling to escape.
Comes into view a donkey loaded with luggage,
Comes also into view a young couple,
He carries her on a bike…
About the artist
Yang Fudong’s film is set against the extraordinary panorama of the Loess Plateau in Northern China. Two young men are moving in, conspicuously sharply dressed and beset with difficulties of the harsh terrain. Meanwhile a young couple are struggling just as hard to escape.
The cinematic quality is achingly beautiful, accompanied by a drawn-out sense of suspense. As one scene builds upon another with pressing intensity, the narrative both draws us in and confounds our ability to make sense of it. Yang Fudong deftly plays with the viewer, leaving the threads of the narrative untied, which only heightens our fascination.
Yang Fudong’s films meditate upon the rupture between modernity and tradition in China, in the wake of rapid cultural change; and the slippage between dream, nostalgia and reality.
Yang Fudong was born in 1971 in Beijing, China, and lives and works in Shanghai.