Despite only being fourteen minutes in length, Jiage Tong's debut short comes with a lot of research, preparation and dedication behind it as part of her studies. The Chinese-born and New York-trained novice director saw “Seventy” take four years to complete in the tale of one man's attempts to work his way around a Chinese government ruling.
This is screening at The Winter Film Awards:
In 1997, a new ruling by the Chinese Government now means that creation must occur before burial. In a remote, nameless Chinese village in the winter months, an old, lonely man of seventy, Wang Shun (Maishun Cao), struggles to bury his dead dog. On hearing the new ruling coming in with immediate effect, he comes up with an idea.
Taking himself off to the nearest town to its most expensive funeral planners, he hosts his own funeral, inviting all the local villagers, despite many having no interest in him. In his finest attire, Wang gleefully takes part in the ritual with the whole village watching on.
The part of Wang is the only one played by a professional actor; the rest of the village being played by, well local villagers. As such, filing in a remote village in cold conditions with a group of non-actors speaking in a regional dialect no doubt caused some difficulties in the making. But luckily, this also adds to some nice cinematography from Yuhan Lin, capturing the village covered in white.
Tong stayed in remote villages, including her mother's, spending time with elderly people. One thing that was identified was the desire for a nice funeral. One final send-off, rather than being lost like dust in the wind. As such, “Seventy” is not a direct political critique from Tong, but more one man's way of getting around the new ruling. Still wanting to have his one special day, despite his desolate life, he plans to have his funeral before his death, getting to have his dying wish and putting a smile back on his face.
Obviously, making a political film in China is thwart with problems, but with so much time and dedication put into completing the short, the idea feels one deserving of much greater exploration at feature length. A Hirokazu Kore-eda-esque “After Life” style use of interviews from people about their thoughts and “hopes” around their own funeral and how the ruling couple put an end to these would have given great depth to what is a good starting point of an idea.
A possible idea for the future from the student director, and the hope is that there will be more to come from a young director willing to put in that extra effort.
