“Lili Alone” is the directorial debut by Zou Jing. The short tells the story of Lili (Lili Huang), a poor young mother from Sichuan, who goes to enter the surrogate mother business in the big city in order to make money for her sick father's medical treatment.
“Lili Alone” is screening at Vienna Shorts
This is a very somber short that engulfs the viewer with the hopelessness of Lili's experience. The color palette consists of shades of washed grays, mixed sometimes with cold blues and browns. The colors are so similar at times, that they almost bleed into each other, creating a cold world of disinterest and alienation. This is heightened by the flat lighting that seems to highlight no one and nothing in particular, the composition which imprisons Lili in thick walls, and the ultra slow editing which lets every static scene enfold the viewer in all of its melancholy beauty.
Within all that visual bleakness, “Lili Alone” discusses seminal humanitarian topics, chief amongst which is the value of human life in all of its forms. The young woman is forced to go to the big city and sell her womb, so she can save her sick father. Her drunken gambler of a husband is against her working away (he thinks she is going to a toy factory) because the old man's life is not important. He can die for all the husband cares, more important for him is to satiate his immediate desires for alcohol and gambling. The moment she disobeys him and goes to make the money for the treatment, he abandons her. In a sad twist of fate, Lili's father passes while she is pregnant with the baby she is bound to sell.
Lili is also treated as worthless human by her new employer, save for her womb which can be used to produce babies for others. In the first meeting with the head of the, hopefully illegal, operation, he tells her that she is an ignorant and ugly village woman and as such, is of no value for society. The moment she signs her contract, she is moved to a room in an imposing building possibly filled with women in her situation. There, she meets a new friend, an older woman who seems to have accepted the role of the surrogate mother, imposed to her by society. It is hard the first time you part with your baby, but after a few more times, it becomes easier, she tells Lili in one of this short's most intimate moments. Later, when she dies and leaves Lili completely alone, she is swiftly swapped for a younger girl.
The way people treat one another, and most of all, the way male characters of higher status completely disregard others gives “Lili Alone” a notedly dystopian feel. Seeing what transpires on screen, and how Lili and the women around her accept the dehumanizing treatment towards them is chilling to watch, and makes us wish it has no basis in reality. The sad fact that it does, and that such horrible places that use people in such reprehensible ways, makes this beautifully shot short a worthy watch not only for those of us interested in movies with social messages, but all cinema lovers alike.
