Above the Dust

I almost gave this gem a miss because the publicity synopsis did not sound compelling and the photo stills were not captivating. However, and thankfully, my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to check it out while it was still playing on the big screen. The story takes place in northwestern China and having been to this area made me interested in wanting to revisit it via this film. And wow, what an amazingly breathtaking viewing experience it turned out to be. From the opening scene set amid a sandstorm in rural Gansu province to the closing zoom shot of a bleak city landscape, this is a beautifully photographed movie about a child's relationship with his grandfather. Standing out from among an excellent cast is newcomer Ouyang Wenxin, who is heartbreakingly perfect in fleshing out the role of a boy who is never quite contented and has to learn to accept life's circumstances sometimes the hard way. I now look forward to watching more films by director Wang Xiaoshuai as well as works featuring the cast members.

People and people, place and place, people and place, these may be the three relationships that the movie wants to analyze. But in the end, the movie only briefly explores the relationship between people and place, and instead completes the sublimation of the relationship between the first two.

This makes the connections between people and places throughout the film only to be discovered at the end to be used as tools, which inevitably makes people feel disappointed.

The children's perspective is an interesting and clever setting that can be used only for narration without any need for emotion. If the ending of the movie ends abruptly at several points, which is just right. The emergence of new plots one after another can only continuously weaken the effect of expression.

However, it can be seen that director Wang Xiaoshuai wanted to express a lot, and it is good to have completed it to this extent.

A plot similar to "The Virgin Spring" is still incomprehensible but it is very shocking. The silhouette of "The Seventh Seal" is reflected in the era told in the movie and has produced countless new interpretations.

Love the super surrealistic scenes embedded in the realistic scenes. The parents are so ignorant or forced to be ignorant to obtain their life in the edge of big city. Even stronger than SO LONG, MY SON. A master while bold piece.

It's very clear that the director leads the family in the film from their hidden history, unknown even to the mother and the grandson, which is "not proud of", to the edge of the big city. What is not changed is the crucial fact that after they were robbed of their own land and houses, the rural family has no where to go.

The suppression on the director from Chinese censorship has been long imposed on all Chinese films. With his defiance and confrontation through this film, hope there will be more and more excellent Chinese films coming out.

BTW, it's definitely not a Children's film but can be a film for children.