I always feel awkward writing a long review of a movie I really liked. When I have nothing to criticize, I'm limited in what I have to say.
I’d been busy for a few days and hadn’t managed to watch anything, so when I finally sat down for An Elephant Sitting Still, it felt like a reward. Despite the length, I watched it in one stretch, completely absorbed. It doesn’t lure you in with flashy visuals or heightened aesthetics it’s not that kind of film. The directing is beautiful in its realism. Maybe not conventionally “aesthetic,” but so grounded that it feels like you’ve slipped into the same universe as these characters. It’s heavy and at times suffocating, but that’s exactly what makes it gripping. The characters and storytelling are built with unusual care. They don’t feel like scripted figures they feel like real people stuck in their own traps, carrying their own despair. And of course, knowing this was Hu Bo’s only film changes the way it lands. It’s makes the film cut deeper.

I always feel awkward writing a long review of a movie I really liked. When I have nothing to criticize, I'm limited in what I have to say.
I’d been busy for a few days and hadn’t managed to watch anything, so when I finally sat down for An Elephant Sitting Still, it felt like a reward. Despite the length, I watched it in one stretch, completely absorbed. It doesn’t lure you in with flashy visuals or heightened aesthetics it’s not that kind of film. The directing is beautiful in its realism. Maybe not conventionally “aesthetic,” but so grounded that it feels like you’ve slipped into the same universe as these characters. It’s heavy and at times suffocating, but that’s exactly what makes it gripping. The characters and storytelling are built with unusual care. They don’t feel like scripted figures they feel like real people stuck in their own traps, carrying their own despair. And of course, knowing this was Hu Bo’s only film changes the way it lands. It’s makes the film cut deeper.

"I live just like in a movie!"

The movie:

"I live just like in a movie!"

The movie:

Rest in peace Hu Bo.

Rest in peace Hu Bo.

I've been putting off watching this one for 5 years, am unemployed at the moment and figured today was as good a day as any. A recommendation from my Mandarin teacher brought it back into my mind.

Obviously this film is tragically and inextricably linked to Hu Bo's suicide. I don't want to assign it a rating for that reason. It's hard not to view the film as a cry out of the darkness of depression, or even as a suicide note.

That being said, this is one of the best, if not the best film I've seen about 21st Century postindustrial, terminally atomized society. You could drop the same plot and characters into a Rust Belt American city and it would have the same impact and relevance.

For the low level of technical sophistication and financial backing this film had, it's a cinematographic and editing masterpiece. The camera lingers, sways, circles, follows, and obscures in ways I haven't seen done to this much effect. The conversations where the subjects are in foregeound focus and others are reduced to blurs in the background are an incredible device to accentuate the isolation of the characters. The long takes must have been blocked out to the most minute details, and they pulled every single one of them off. It's extremely impressive stuff. Hard to make a 4 hour epic flow like that.

Absolutely tragic that we won't ever see more work from Hu Bo. What a loss.

I've been putting off watching this one for 5 years, am unemployed at the moment and figured today was as good a day as any. A recommendation from my Mandarin teacher brought it back into my mind.

Obviously this film is tragically and inextricably linked to Hu Bo's suicide. I don't want to assign it a rating for that reason. It's hard not to view the film as a cry out of the darkness of depression, or even as a suicide note.

That being said, this is one of the best, if not the best film I've seen about 21st Century postindustrial, terminally atomized society. You could drop the same plot and characters into a Rust Belt American city and it would have the same impact and relevance.

For the low level of technical sophistication and financial backing this film had, it's a cinematographic and editing masterpiece. The camera lingers, sways, circles, follows, and obscures in ways I haven't seen done to this much effect. The conversations where the subjects are in foregeound focus and others are reduced to blurs in the background are an incredible device to accentuate the isolation of the characters. The long takes must have been blocked out to the most minute details, and they pulled every single one of them off. It's extremely impressive stuff. Hard to make a 4 hour epic flow like that.

Absolutely tragic that we won't ever see more work from Hu Bo. What a loss.

All culminating to the ending was just perfect.

All culminating to the ending was just perfect.