Floating in Memory

In recent decades, young people in China have flocked to the city in their millions. As a comparison: it’s as if the whole population of Europe moved to the cities in a period of 20 years, and so it’s not surprising – no, its inevitable – that this uprooting has caused a flood of stories, studies, artistic reactions and of course films, and these will continue for many years. An emotionally gripping example of such a story was told by the talented Peng Tao in his widely praised début film Little Moth. In his second film, Floating in Memory, the tone is grim and inevitable. The story, as in so many films, is based on a small newspaper report. Peng points the restless, seeking camera at Xiu, a shop girl who lives with her female boss and spends her evenings in the local dance hall. That spot also turns out to be the hunting ground of the pimp Qiang, also a country boy. Briefly, some kind of love seems possible in this emotional no man’s land, but in no time they have lost each other and their future. In the apparent simplicity of the concentration with which Peng Tao portrays his young lovers, they are reminiscent of the tragic protagonists of the Dardenne Brothers. Peng’s film shows a barely cloaked urgency and is made partly with the aid of a digital production grant from the Hubert Bals Fund. (GT)

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