Gan qing dong wu (2011) Reviews

• More interesting film than can be derived from the synopsis

  JvH482012-10-28

  I saw this film as part of the Rotterdam Film Festival 2012. In spite of the synopsis as published by the festival, leaving much to our imagination, I booked tickets and did not regret it. We saw an intriguing sequence of events and unpredictable things happening. The binding story is simplistic: New Years Eve, family comes together, pater familias is seriously ill, everyone assumes this time to be the last, etcetera. But all this is not relevant to enjoy this movie. In fear of spoiling I'll refrain from telling more about what happened. The final Q&A with the director provided for useful extra information. The reason for using black and white was only the budget, and no inherent meaning is to be construed from it. Originally there was a script, but after a few shooting days, some of the actors had other obligations, hence the script was thrown out of the window. The title is also devoid of any special meaning, just a random choice out of alternatives that could equally be as good or bad. It applies to the donkeys as slaughtered in the opening scene, fish as the prime business of the fish farm where most scenes are located, and last-but-not-least humans, the latter being the worst kind of animals.