HMB’s Coastside Film Society: Loving homage to Chinese movie
Electric Shadows
June 2011 — “A love letter to an age when cinema was still the main source of mass entertainment in China, and movie theaters (especially in rural areas) a social center for the whole community.” — Derek Elley, Variety
The movie starts in modern-day Beijing following Mao Xiaobing, a film buff who earns ticket money by delivering bottled water by bike. One day he is attacked by Ling Ling, a young woman who is thrown into jail for her crime. She asks him to do her a favor and go to her apartment to feed her fish while she is incarcerated. He agrees, and his simple life is uprooted.
It turns out Ling Ling is also a film buff and her apartment is stuffed full of film memorabilia. Her diary describes her life in terms of scenes pulled from favorite old Chinese movies. As Mao reads the diary, the clips transport him back to Ling Ling’s childhood during the Cultural Revolution of the early 1970s when movies were simpler, but Ling Ling and Mao’s lives were much more complex. Slowly it dawns on Mao that this mysterious mute girl is a beloved childhood friend who taught him his love of movies. The diary reveals that Ling Ling’s life was a lot more complicated than he ever imagined.
“Electric Shadows plays as an enthralling but implausible Asian soap opera, in which politics forms only a distant backdrop to the family drama and to the story of Mao and Ling Ling’s separation and reunion. In its loveliest moments, the movie transcends its story to evoke the world experienced by two children who are so close they are able to share the same enchanted fantasy.” — Stephen Holden, The New York Times
“Electric Shadows is such a charming film … balancing drama, comedy and tragedy with great aplomb. … It’s been a long time since I was … so immensely moved by a single film. … With amazing cinematography and locales, and a score as performed by the China Philharmonic Orchestra, this is a must watch, a truly exquisite film to sit through.” — Stefan S, A Nutshell Review movie review blog.
Friday, June 17, 8 p.m. Community United Methodist Sanctuary
777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay (corner of Johnston Street
Running time: 95 minutes. Mandarin with English subtitles.
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