Wang Shaohan graduated from MFA, Academy Of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. During his school years, he shot a number of short films which won awards in international and domestic film festivals.
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Due to the restructuring of the industrial and mining sectors, two aimless university graduates, Wang Zhao and Zhou Hao are reassigned to work underground. This unexpected news prompts them to plan an “escape”, which is directly connected with their higher up, a man who does not seem particularly eager to help them. Throughout this process, they transition from youth to adulthood.
The issues with the aforementioned restructuring have been repeatedly explored in Chinese cinema, with the recent “A Long Shot” being indicative. Wang Shaohan attempts a more detached approach, probably owing to the film’s duration of less than half an hour, which is, though, impactful on occasion.
As we watch the two protagonists essentially trying to escape a life they do not seem to be able to do so, while their friends are finding way outs in gambling for example, a rather bleak portrait is created, with their loving families who cannot help them and the small-minded bosses adding even more to this sense. The fact that they gradually realize how their lives are going to be, as much as the fact they are not exactly special in any aspect, a rather cruel coming-of-age is reached, which the director seems to suggest is one of the reasons leading people to violence.
This bleakness is also evident in the visuals of the movie. Wang Chen Hui’s cinematography captures the decaying setting in a style that frequently reminds of a dystopia, with the desaturated, greyish colors dictating the visuals here. At the same time, his frames are impeccable, with a number of them looking like paintings, and the last one, which also emits an intense sense of nostalgia with the addition of melancholic music, being rather memorable. Xu Ming Huan’s editing results in a relatively fast pace, which could have handled the transitions in time somewhat better, although the pace is definitely fitting.
Fan Zhen Feng as Wang Zhao and Bo Yi Bin as Zhou Hao give performances that are passable, but not particularly memorable, in an aspect that could have actually elevated the short if it was better. The violent scene and its aftermath, however, are definitely well-acted, in another rather memorable scene here.
“When Dreams End” is a visually impressive film, that just needed a bit more attention to its execution in terms of acting and direction. Definitely deserves a watch for the rather melancholic portrayal of a reality that is, unfortunately, all too real.
