Here, There (Lu Sheng, 2010): China

Reviewed by Sofia Arnbom. Viewed at the Santa Barbara Film Festival 2012.

Here, There is a Chinese movie directed by Lu Sheng. This is his debut movie.

There are three different stories in this movie that we are following; one set in Shanghai, one in Paris and one far north in the Chinese forest close to the border. These three narratives shows three different lives that are interwoven. Sheng plays with the idea about how different places and locations really defines us. He shows us the possibility that when we are far from home in an unfamiliar territory, our true self is revealed. Maybe that is the case? Maybe when we are fumbling around in the world we get the opportunity to really get to know our inner core. If it is a good or bad thing – only the future will tell.

The first story in Here, There is about a lonely man living in the northern part of China. He lives in a shed taking care of reindeers. His life is a task, he is taking ice from the lakes and carry it to his shed to use it for cooking and drinking. He has a son and a wife that lives in a town away from where he lives. They are sometimes taking the bus up on the mountain to help him and to keep him company. The son tells us that he someday wants to work with the same thing as his father does, but at the same time be living in the town and have a normal job.

After that, the story changes into a different one. This one takes place in Shanghai. A young boy (Huang Lu) works at a Chinese restaurant. At the restaurant he meets a girl (Lu Yulai) and they get together. Later in the movie the girl commits suicide and the story about him is about how he deals with his great loss.
The third and last story takes place in a Parisian Chinatown a world apart. The owner of the restaurant in Shanghai’s son is in Paris. That story is about how the boy gets robbed and he can not pay his rent anymore. An old man helps him to find his passport and wallet. The old man has some contacts in criminal gangs and succeeds to get them back. The old man becomes his friend in some ways.

I thought this movie was very boring. I couldn’t find any purpose by looking at this movie except the one that you can find yourself in places you do not really belong. It felt more like a movie about nature because there were more shooting of trees, snow, houses and objects than the actual persons. That made me loose the interest and forget the stories. And the fact that the actors did look so alike made you mix the stories together. It also felt like there was many missing pieces in the stories. The confusing moments in this film made me loose interest at once.

The music in the film was very sad and depressing. Even though the stories was not that sad, all of the stories made your heartbroken because of the music. I bet Sheng thought it was beautiful music, it sure was, but it did not fit very well. People who likes great picture of nature should see this movie. Otherwise, look for a movie with ONE simple story where you actually can follow it.