The theory that the reality of social media is actually a total lie has been one that a number of people have begun pondering about during the last few years, particularly when the fact that a number of posts found on SNS was revealed to be from bots, with Twitter being the most clear sample. Daphne Xu presents a documentary that also moves towards the same direction, by following a rather interesting woman in Xiong'an New Area, a government-planned city just south of Beijing, named Hua Hua, who tries to be an internet sensation despite her rather miserable life circumstances.
“Huahua's Dazzling World and its Myriad Temptations” is screening at the Museum of the Moving Image, as part of the First Look 2023 program
Composed almost exclusively of long shots, the movie begins with her in her rundown house, washing dishes with boiled water and cooking, while trying to take care of her kids, constantly coughing, only breaking her routine to livestream on the video-sharing app Kuaishou. And if the footage Xu shows is a glimpse into the lives of the poor in China, the streaming Hua Hua does is anything but, as we watch her repeatedly dancing full of energy in her motley clothes or talking loudly with her “followers” on the web. The difference from her real life is so intense, that even her cough becomes part of her celebrity persona, who has her intensely bass voice as one of its main characteristics.
Considering that the documentary is almost completely composed of lengthy shots, it could easily become tiring for the viewer. However, Daphne Xu has three things going on for her, that prevent it from becoming so. The first one, as mentioned before, is the antithesis of Hua Hua's everyday life and the one she has on the web. Particularly the music video scenes (the second thing), and the way they develop, even including another individual eventually, offer a much welcome relief from the overall narrative style, while also being hilarious. The third is Hua Hua herself, which, despite her otherwise non-celebrity friendly overall appearance, is a genuine star, with her charisma filling the screen every time she appears on it, no matter what she is doing, even in the bleakest moments of her life. Her sense of humor, her disregard for people's opinion, her people-friendly ways, even her lack of knowledge about the world (at one point she talks about a female US President) become parts of this rather appealing persona, carrying the movie almost from beginning to end.
And I say almost, because close to the end, after another really lengthy moment of her just talking through a close up on her face, it does become slightly annoying, making it very hard to follow. This issue can also be attributed to Xu's editing, particularly since the movie would definitely benefit from some trimming, as, in 82 minutes, it somewhat overextends its welcome.
All the other aspects of “Huahua's Dazzling World and its Myriad Temptations” however, are pretty entertaining and interesting in their resulting comments, resulting in a movie that definitely deserves a watch for its main theme and its overall approach.
