Films about films have been coming in abundance from the Asian movie industry lately, with the meta aspect proving quite popular for various directors. Yihan Lin also implements a similar approach, inducing it though, with a number of other elements that also move “Sojourn to Shangri-La” to more experimental paths.
Sojourn to Shangri-La is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
The film begins with a disorienting scene that soon proves to be taking place underwater, before moving to the beach, where a man in a cap seems to talk about an incident that took place the previous night, with him being apologetic about but also blaming ‘fate' rather than anything else. The focus then changes first to a single Asian girl and then to a number of others, actresses, ADs and in general members of the cast and crew of a fashion photo shoot, who are mostly sitting, waiting. The focus, however, seems to be on the initial girl, Cal, who moves around in her punkish jean jacket, interacting with various members of the crew, soon revealed as assistant production designer. Her efforts to salvage the situation and the installation that is to be used for the shoot stumbles upon the unwillingness of other departments to cooperate, the offensive behavior of the initial man (director), which eventually has the girl using a drone, discovering a number of beauties of the sea nearby as much as the doings of the rest of the crew.
Yihan Lin directs a 19-minute short which is split in two parts, with the acquiring of the drone providing the dichotomy. In that regard, the first part follows the film-about-film approach, showing the behind-the-scenes aspect of the fashion shoot, which essentially, is exactly like a movie shoot. The angry director who seems to get his share of yelling by his higher ups, the ‘levels' existing among the crew and how some departments look down on the others, and how many things can go wrong in when making a movie, particularly in location shooting, are all highlighted quite eloquently here.
The second part moves towards art-house and experimental paths, with the mostly panoramic drone shots of the sea, the beach, the area close by, the crew and the “talking local” inducing the movie with a surrealistic but also ritualistic essence that actually works quite well here, even if the whole thing is somewhat disorienting, particularly regarding the director's purpose.
Shot in 4:3, in sharp monochrome, and implementing a ‘shaky camera', many close ups and panoramic shots, Yikai Lue Wu's cinematography emerges as the most impressive aspect of the movie, with the plethora of different techniques being the main source of a number of the different aesthetics here. Furthermore, in combination with the excellent job in the sound, it is what gives the movie its ritualistic essence, which finds its apogee in the scene with the local. Yihan Lin's own editing induces the movie with a very appealing sense of speed, with the cuts being well placed.
Yunfei Fu in the role of the assistant production designer helms the short, particularly in the first part, with her meaningful gazes and overall demeanor being quite well presented.
“Sojourn to Shangri-La” is a weird movie, but is also quite rewarding and entertaining, in a rather intriguing approach that retains interest from beginning to end.
