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An Elephant Sitting Still
大象席地而坐
2018 230 min China 18+
★8.1
Drama
Director: Bo Hu
Trailers
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Description
In the northern Chinese city of Manzhouli, they say there is an elephant that simply sits and ignores the world. Manzhouli becomes an obsession for the protagonists of this film, a longed-for escape from the downward spiral in which they find themselves.
Budget:
$2.5M
US Gross:
$32,556
Starring
Yu Zhang
Actor
Yuchang Peng
Actor
Uvin Wang
Actor
Awards
Berlin International Film Festival 2018
— FIPRESCI Prize – Forum
San Sebastián International Film Festival 2018
— Zabaltegi-Tabakalera Award
Key opinion
Hu Bo's debut film is widely regarded as a raw, unflinching, and deeply melancholic masterpiece that captures the existential hopelessness of its characters. While its brutal honesty and atmospheric cinematography are praised as profound, the four-hour runtime and unrelentingly pessimistic tone make it a challenging and emotionally taxing experience.
| Cinematography | The cinematography uses long, lingering takes and a muted, gray color palette to masterfully convey feelings of alienation and trapped existence. | |
| Acting | The performances are defined by a restrained, almost sparse style that lends the characters a haunting and authentic sense of emotional exhaustion. | |
| Theme | The narrative succeeds as a brutally honest, existential manifesto, effectively grounding its philosophical themes in the bleak reality of its protagonists' lives. | |
| Runtime | The nearly four-hour runtime creates a polarizing divide: some find it essential for building an immersive, hypnotic atmosphere, while others view it as self-indulgent or overly taxing. | |
| Emotion | The film's extreme pessimism and bleakness serve as an uncompromising confrontation with suffering, which some viewers find deeply meaningful while others find suffocatingly difficult to endure. |