Kaili Blues

At first glance，Kaili Bluesseems satisfied to be nothing more than director Bi Gans personal pet project. Set in Bis hometown， Kaili （凱里）， a little-known city in Guizhou Province， the film started shooting with only 3，000 USD contributed by the directors friends and family， who also make up the entire cast. The film was screened in theaters for just ten days. “My film is made for wild ghosts and wind， I have no expectations，” Bi joked， employing some of the obtuse poetics that dominate the film.

Despite the films odd writing choices， audiences have been strangely positive toward the movie. Though confused by it， viewers often returned to cinemas for second and third viewings. With a Locarno International Film Festival showing in Sweden and the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan， theres got to be something there.

Backed up by a positive reception， Bi is pretty confident： “My film is a heavy rain， but please dont come with umbrellas.”

Films are regarded as significant either because of their own artistic completeness or by acting as a “lighthouse” in showing a new direction. Kaili Blues， though not a torrential downpour as claimed by the director himself， can be called a boom of muffled thunder that anticipates a heavy rain.

In Kaili， a small city that seems forgotten by time， Chen Sheng （played by Bis uncle， Chen Yongzhong） works as a physician in a shabby clinic. He， like others， lives life stuck in a cycle. Underneath the contagious stagnation， however， everyone is swamped by their past， symbolized by the cars seen stalling throughout the film. As Chen goes on a journey to find his brothers son， Weiwei， episodes from his past reveal his time in prison and his deceased wife. Chockablock with symbolism and epiphanies， the narration carries a slippery other-worldliness that enmeshes Chens past with the present journey—perhaps even pointing to the future.

Bi intends to break the linearity of time， and the looping narration fails to smoothly carry the audience through. The often abrupt jumps in time and the intentional play with ambiguity often leave the audience confused—more of an albatross around the viewers neck than a thought-provoking wonder.

This supposed “new magical realism” puts the viewer， one must say， in the drivers seat; fans have been quick to say that the viewers inability to follow is more at fault than the bumpy narration.

There are many reasons why the audience may feel this sense of humility. The most important factor is， perhaps， the consensus that Kaili Blues?is a “poetic” film. Almost every frame is captured with a delicate bluish grace， and Chens poems have a sort of odd perfection given the exotic accent. The actual poetry of the film slightly makes up for the relatively weak narration.

But the word “poetic”—as a form of “new magical realism”—is a container people often use to paper over big mistakes in storytelling. Whats more likely is that the films language is so out of the ordinary and so engrossing that audiences and critics are looking for excuses to overlook gaping narrative flaws.

If not for Kaili Blues， Bi Gan would still be in the mountains of his hometown. Isolated from movie circles and under no pressure to please any stakeholders， he demonstrates the freedom and free will of “a wild movie”. As the Hollywood industry expands in concentric circles and the Chinese movie scene is dominated by filmmakers from the big cities， Kaili Blues?emerges to remind us that art films are always about sincere expression.?- Li Yanting （李妍婷）

Weiwei： Lao Chen， Ill take you as far as Dangmai River and Ill be on my way. Im going further along to draw on the trains.

L2o Ch9n， y！hu#r w6 b2 n@ s7ngd3o D3ngm3i H9 bi`n， w6 ji& z6u le. W6 h1i y3o q& yu2n y#di2nr de d#fang hu3 hu6ch8.

老陳，一會兒我把你送到蕩麥河邊，我就走了。我還要去遠一點兒的地方畫火車。

Chen Sheng： Draw on the trains？

Hu3n hu6ch8？

畫火車？

Weiwei： Mm. Yangyang says shell only come back if I can turn back time.

N.Y1ngyang ji2ng， ch%f8i w6 k0y@ r3ng sh！ji`n d3o hu！ q&， t` c1in9ng hu！l1i.

嗯。洋洋講，除非我可以讓時間倒回去，她才能回來。

Chen Sheng： So what are you going

to do？

N3 n@ d2su3n z0nme b3n？

那你打算怎么辦？

Weiwei： ?Im going to do exactly that. Im going to draw a clock on each train and the clocks will all be connected.

W6 y6u b3nf2 r3ng t` z3i hu6ch8 shang k3nd3o. W6 z3i m0i y# ji9 hu6ch8 shang d4u hu3shang zh4ngbi2o， w6 r3ng t`men qu1nb& d4u li1n q@l1i. ?? 我有辦法讓她在火車上看到。我在每一節火車上都畫上鐘表，我讓他們全部都連起來。