Li Wen at East Lake (2015)
As with everything in life, the same goes for East Lake, a threatened lake near the expanding mega city of Wuhan. You can get worked up about it and get involved - or you can think, it won’t affect me. Fortunately there’s the intriguing new film by Li Luo, which brings to an end these doubts. East Lake (Dong Hu) is a scenic area in the city of Wuhan, threatened by new amusement parks, high-rises and even an airport. ‘East Lake is getting smaller and smaller, but it's bigger and bigger in my memory,’ wrote a friend to the Canada-based Chinese filmmaker Li Luo as a result of the development. In a lucid way, the film investigates how the lake is linked to the people, leading to reflection on identity and survival in today’s China. The form is varied and free. Li uses documentary as well as fictional style elements, and often an ironic mixture of both. © iffr.com
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"Li Wen at East Lake" is a free-form work, hovering between feature film and documentary. Fact and fiction intermingle and improvisation plays an important role.The films follows the languid rhythm of the shores of iconic East Lake near the city of Wuhan and touches on themes of the development and transformation of the Chinese countryside, both socially and physically. The old - e.g. a local myth concerning a dragon in the lake and fishermen that are rendered obsolete - is contrasted with the new, e.g. an art protest against real estate development and changing attitudes among the younger generations towards sexual diversity. A subtle humor and overall light tone run through the film. The likable amateur actor Li Wen delivers a fine role. Interviews with locals only add to the documentary feel. Thanks to its striking form and tone, "Li Wen at East Lake" was one of the more memorable and refreshing films I saw at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.