International Premiere | In Competition | OPENING FILM
China, 2024, 111’, Mandarin
Directed by: Xu Lei
Screenplay: Liu Zheng, Xu Yidan, Cui Xiaodong
Cinematography (color): Wang Xiaoguang
Editing: Kang Kezhen, Huang Bingjie
Art Direction: Wu Jianzhang
Music: Ou Ge
Sound: Li Danfeng
Producers: Zhang Yu, Xu Yidan
Production Company: Beijing Splendid Culture & Entertainment Co., Ltd.
Cast: Wang Chuanjun (Wei Fei), Xu Chaoying (Lao Wei), Zhang Zhanyi (Zhan Yi), Sunny Sun (Manager Sun)
Date of First Release in Territory: September 27th, 2024
Generational conflict is at the heart of this hilarious comedy that pits the opposing worldviews of a father and his boy-man adult son against each other. The film is Xu Lei’s second feature; he made a splash in 2019 with his debut feature Summer Detective, a surreal comedy produced by Rao Xiaozhi and starring his father, Xu Chaoying, a non-professional actor who also co-stars in Green Wave. In this second film, Xu Chaoying takes on the role of Wei Fei’s father, a young science fiction writer and screenwriter who leads a bohemian life in Beijing, his hopes of becoming famous constantly thwarted. His recently widowed father, Lao Wei, still lives in his native village where he is loved and respected by the entire community. During the demolition of the ancestral home, a seemingly antique porcelain bowl emerges from the rubble, and Lao Wei is encouraged to take it to Beijing to be evaluated by experts. Wei Fei is thrilled to see his father but is too wrapped up in his existential dramas to pay much attention to him. Lao Wei feels his son is wasting his life, but Wei Fei defends his apparent apathy as part of the creative process...
The two men establish parallel lives, but with much opposed daily routines: Wei Fei spends his days on the couch obsessively scrolling social media to see if he has been noticed by anyone, he goes to see films that trigger feelings of guilt towards his father, or he accompanies his friends – fellow filmmakers who are just as frustrated as him – to look for film equipment in warehouses where everything is fake but looks real. Lao Wei, on the other hand, spends his time with an old friend who has moved from the village to Beijing and works in a zoo – where one of the film’s most comical scenes takes place – amidst displays of antiquities where everything is real but could also be fake – as Lao Wei will learn to his cost...
The film’s original Chinese title literally translates as “Promising future” and refers to an idiomatic expression Lao Wei finds painted on a silk scroll at a street market where an auction, which perfectly parodies art markets, is taking place. Lao Wei decides to hang it on his son’s wall as an inspirational quote, but Wei Fei seems doomed to fail: when a film he wrote is finally released in theatres, he ends up losing his shoe on the bus on the way to the premiere, and after the screening – during which he realises that his script has been completely distorted by the film’s producers – he overhears some audience members snidely commenting how social media is tripping over itself to proclaim that the film proves that Chinese cinema has got even worse in recent years...
But the roles between father and son are eventually reversed, because Wei Fei may be a failed screenwriter, but he knows a good storyline when he sees one, and the one about a gang trying to con his father is too good to resist...
Green Wave made its big screen debut in China at the 2024 Pingyao Film Festival, where it was unanimously acclaimed by both public and critics, who dubbed it “the surprise of the year.” The Jury Award went to Xu Lei, while Xu Chaoying picked up the Best Actor prize. The topic of the generation gap bridged by togetherness in times of crisis, tackled with sensitivity, realism and humour and aided by the lively soundtrack of the indie rock band Da Wenxi, turned a story that could have been overwrought into one that is not only entertaining but also thought-provoking.
GUEST:
XU Lei, director
XU Lei
Xu Lei (b. 1982) made his feature film debut with
Summer Detective, which won the screenplay award at the 2018 FIRST Int’l Film Festival. In 2022, he directed the short film
The Great Director starring Ning Hao – who represents the nadir of commercial cinema – and Jia Zhangke – an iconic representative of art-house cinema. In 2024, with Ning Hao he co-directed the comedy
Hutong Cowboy starring Ge You.
SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY
2019 – Summer Detective
2021 – The Great Director (short)
2024 – Green Wave
2024 – Hutong Cowboy (co-director)