Synopsis
In a nameless small Chinese city, a regular mother tries to find her missing daughter, in this gentle night.
A Gentle Night
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I can’t say I know for sure what about this short film touched me in a way where I felt so incredibly invested, but it’s one I think should be watched whenever anyone has 15 minutes to do so.
Everything is important, every second feels necessary.
And if I were to say anymore, I’d be ruining the experience for anyone who has yet to watch it.
It’s the first time I’ve ever rewatched something as soon as it finished, I deemed it necessary, but I understand how that can very well just be me.Big thanks to Jocelyne Booth for the recommendation,
this is what’ll serve as the most grand inspiration for a short film if I ever have the perfect idea.Watch A Gentle Night.
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contains a shot/scene that ive been dreaming about executing for a month. good stuff.
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Short Drama - This intense one-reel drama won Chinese writer-director Qiu Yang the Palme d'Or at Cannes for Best Short Film as well as the Short Cuts Award - Honorable Mention at TIFF. The story opens just before Chinese New Year in a police station, where a man reports the disappearance of his 13-year-old daughter Ding Lin aka 'Linlin.' The girl's mother Cai Zhuo (Li Shuxian) explains that the girl didn't come home after school, although her teacher Mr. Feng said over the phone that he had seen her leave.
As the parents drive home by car, we learn that Cai Zhuo fears Linlin may have been abducted. She may be in danger. But the husband reminds her that Cai…
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Ending that's a little bit frustrating, imho, but beautifully filmed and well-structured, with sympathetic performances that feel like they go on beyond the short running time of this film, and energy that successfully captures the sense of descending catastrophe on an orderly personal universe.
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The following is playing at the London Short Film Festival, which runs 12-21 January. Find out more here or on the fest's Facebook page.
A Gentle Night
Over a black opening screen we hear a man tell his wife “I’ll do the talking, don’t interrupt” before they speak to a police officer. Yet from the first moments of A Gentle Night, Cai Zhou (Li Shuxian) is the only person who ever seems to occupy the whole of the frame. Her husband is perpetually cut off by the compositions, which place him (and other men) at the edge of the image or just render him in soft focus. All attention constantly orients around Cai, who has worked herself into a state…
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The omnipresent and confusing information outside the picture allows a single still camera to accumulate multiple emotional density. The pros and cons of the food stall in the middle of the night connects a different time and space.
The voice broke the original depressive atmosphere and reached an emotional climax, but immediately returned to the coldness and alienation of the opening and abruptly stopped to complete the closed loop.
It seems that there is nothing, but in fact there is everything. On the surface, Qiu Yang's film is looking for children, but in reality it is about the fragmented relationship between husband and wife and a society without warmth.
Cinematography, atmosphere and staging are surprisingly masterful, next to the eerie study of society and an ending that pulls the rug from under your feet. China's arthouse filmmaking continues to improve constantly and is climbing ever bigger peaks.
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I haven’t seen a lot of short films, which is a shame because I’m sure that there’s a lot of wonderful and interesting ones. I don’t see them a lot on the streaming services that I’m on.
Anyways I’m trying to watch more, for my script class that I start on Friday (since one possible final project is writing our own short film. So I want to get more familiar with them.
If anyone knows any good ones, or has any favorites please feel free to recommend.
As far as this film I thought it was really great, I wasn’t expecting to be that impressed by it. A great start into checking out more shorts. -
The story was alright, but what I liked most about this film was it’s use of sound. The noises within the environment help convey the emotions of the mother very well. Loud chaotic sounds suggested eagerness and fear, while silence except for an ear piercing buzzing inflict impatience and anxiety. This is a short film I found worth watching.
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amazing performance and beautiful subtle camerawork and cinematography. I don't totally buy the lack of empathy from everyone (including the dad!?) and it felt a little too Cannes-baity at times but otherwise v impressive!
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The agonizing hunt for your missing child interspersed with an ineffectual and judgmental police force. The anguish of the mother is palpable. There’s a great scene of dialogue between the mother and the teacher of her missing daughter. Rather than shoot it up close back and forth between the two POVs, it’s shot from a distance so the entire apartment building appears almost as a film set; really demonstrates how exposed and alone she is.
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