Now that the lockdowns of the previous season are lifted for the most part, it is interesting to watch how the “pandemic” films will unfold, essentially without the intense restrictions that forced a number of titles to present themselves in single spaces, or just through computer screens. Chen Guan‘s debut does exactly that, by placing the narrative of “Shen Kong” in the streets of Macau.
Shen Kong opened the 78th Venice International Film Festival
Li You, a young man, is stranded in his apartment due to the pandemic, desperately trying to find ways to fight boredom. He desperately looks for someone to take a walk outside with him, but everyone seems to be afraid of the virus. Xiao Xiao, a girl from the country that is stranded in the city, eventually becomes his “saviour” and the two of them start a road trip into the almost dystopian setting of the empty city. Their road trip leads them to a number of locations, but also into discovering themselves and each other.
The first thing one will notice in the film is the impressive cinematography by Yang Zheng, particularly in the way the rather intriguing locations the duo visits have been captured. Starting with a number of panoramic shots of the empty streets, and continuing to a seemingly abandoned amusement park, an empty karaoke club, a roller skating rink, a set of tunnels, and an abandoned house where the two light a fire to warm up in more ways than one, are all impressively captured, with Yang making excellent use of the light, essentially in the best element of the film.
Narrative-wise, the ways the two protagonists act as the sole survivors in the city works quite well for the entertainment the title offers, with the two constantly breaking rules and laws, particularly regarding trespassing, in an effort to have fun and pass their time. Furthermore, Chen makes a number of social comments, mostly focusing on the rules regarding the mask, with the black market sales seemingly soaring in the city, while the scene where a young man cannot leave the building he visited without a mask, as the guard in the entrance does not allow him, highlights the paranoia in a hilarious, but also rather pointed fashion. The scene where the two visit his family is also contextually heavy, with the “elders” sharing their rather conservative opinions about youths, mostly focusing on the purpose they should have in life (work and have a family) along with their appearance, with Xiao Xiao’s green hair essentially sealing their opinion from the first time they lay eyes on her. The peaking scene that precedes this one is also a very funny one, as much as another testament to the quality of cinematography in the movie.
Regarding the overall characterization, however, the movie definitely suffers, mostly due to Li You’s intensely predatorial ways, which even border on rape in the beginning of the movie, and the fact that Xiao Xiao seems to go along with it, never actually leaving him, while the way the romance between them unfolds can even perceived as offensive, due this particular attitude. Furthermore, the permeating surrealism may work well in highlighting the strangeness of the times, but at the same time, dulls the social comments significantly, who essentially appear as they were added afterwards, in order to just add some context into a film that aimed at being appreciated through the senses rather than through logic.
At the same time, and in conjunction with the aforementioned aspect, the movie definitely overstays its welcome at 103 minutes, particularly after it becomes obvious that there is not much in terms of story here, more a series of episodes glued together through the interactions of the protagonists. This element also faults the otherwise quite convincing acting by Wei Ruguang as Li You and Deng Keyu as Xiao Xiao, with the two appearing rather intriguing as characters lost in the lockdown while exhibiting a great chemistry, but after a point, their performances seem simply repetitious. In that fashion, Chen Guan’s own and Cao Hangchen editing induces the film with a fittingly slow pace, but a bit of trimming both in the number of scenes and their duration, would definitely benefit the overall quality of their work, and the whole movie.
“Shen Kong” as a whole, has a number of faults. At the same time, however, the individual aspects of the production and particularly the cinematography and a number of episodes, deem the title more than worthy to watch, at least for the most part, while, considering this is a debut, the future looks bright for Chen Guan
