Learning that this film is from the makers of the tedious PLATFORM is not encouraging and the new work has the same murky color and long, unedited shot coverage.
However this one benefits from the stronger narrative elements - nihilistic kids turn to crime as their ambitions are thwarted, no mating with the traveling show chantoosie or becoming a Beijing soldier - along with the detailed account of joyless small town Datong Province life in decaying buildings where finding a US dollar in the liquor bottle the entertainers are plugging represents sudden fortune.
In the line of BEIJING BASTARDS and less engaging that GE GE/ BROTHER which covers much the same ground, this still suggests that the Chinese cinema may be evolving a sub-surface layer of effective, critical entertainment.
However this one benefits from the stronger narrative elements - nihilistic kids turn to crime as their ambitions are thwarted, no mating with the traveling show chantoosie or becoming a Beijing soldier - along with the detailed account of joyless small town Datong Province life in decaying buildings where finding a US dollar in the liquor bottle the entertainers are plugging represents sudden fortune.
In the line of BEIJING BASTARDS and less engaging that GE GE/ BROTHER which covers much the same ground, this still suggests that the Chinese cinema may be evolving a sub-surface layer of effective, critical entertainment.