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United States of AmericaAlong a sleepy Hunan riverside, two delinquent boys experience a summer of love and violence in Yang Heng’s visually stunning debut.
Synopsis“Exquisite!” – Tony Rayns, Film Comment
“Pure cinema” – Susanna Harutyunyan, FIPRESCI – The International Federation of Film Critics
Along a sleepy Hunan riverside, two delinquent boys experience a summer of love and violence in Yang Heng’s visually stunning debut.
Ali and Xiao Yu are two teenage rebels idling away their days along the banks of a river in Jishou, a quiet town in Hunan province. They steal motorbikes, bully and rob kids, sing karaoke and get into fist fights outside the local internet bar. But their rough exterior belies a deeper romanticism, and a tenderness unfolds between them and their teenage loves. As one day bleeds into the next in this impoverished rural setting, it becomes apparent that these sun-baked days of misspent youth will be the wildest, freest time of their lives.
These everyday subjects are transformed by a groundbreaking digital cinematography unlike any other Chinese film. Alternating deep-focus with bold flatness, Yang explores spaces with a mastery that recalls both classical Chinese and modernist landscape painting. Filmed in a summery palette with images that give off an otherworldly glow, BETELNUT offers a one-of-a-kind vision of what it’s like to be young, poor and free in China. “Yang is a first-class visual stylist, and BETELNUT is far and away the most exciting debut film I’ve seen all year.” (Michael Sicinski, The University of Houston)
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Directed by
YANG Heng -
Written by
YANG Heng -
Produced by
YANG Heng
Written by: YANG Heng
Produced by: YANG Heng
Cast
Crew
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Director
YANG Heng
The high school aged boys and girls in this film are far from being unwonted in China today. Idling, drifting, and more often than not, simply mooning around, the aimless boys make us wonder what kind of future they will have. Maybe it is the family values they have been brought up with, maybe it is pure coincidence, the girls all seem to be trying harder. One leaves her city for the more prosperous Guangzhou Province for work - though we never see how that will go for her in the film. Another seems to be keeping up a much healthier lifestyle than the boys, whose favorite pastime includes long hours of playing computer games, by jogging along the local waterway every day. While I watched this film, one question was on my mind all the time. What better can they do? It is somehow really depressing to see young people wasting their youth away like this.
What a great summer movie, a must see for anyone familiar (or not!) with China's Hunan riverside area. Love both the main characters in this.