SOME MANIFESTATIONS OF THE SOUTH
DIRECTED BY ZHIYI WANG
UNITED KINGDOM, CHINA // 2020
16 MINS
A young man who lives in south China runs an errand service: visiting and cleaning ancestors' cemeteries of his clients on their behalf on festivals and anniversaries. He received a special assignment just after he decided to wind up this business.
Reflective Encounters
“A sense of loneliness haunts Some Manifestations of the South, a slow-burn drama about a young man in China who works cleansing graves on behalf of the families of the departed, live streaming and recording his work as he goes. Opening with a scene shot entirely through the phone of the protagonist before cutting to the wider world of the film, this shift between digital and physical shows a stark difference in atmosphere, encapsulating one of the film’s overall themes - the growing disparity between technology and tradition.
Director Zhiyi Wang was a street photographer before moving into filmmaking, and his eye for striking image composition can be seen in the photography of Some Manifestations of the South. This may also explain his lingering gaze that, in some moments, slows the film’s pacing down considerably. Observational cinema depends on a firm sense of time, and this depiction of small-town isolation sometimes feels slightly too restrained, and cautious rather than calm.
The film’s sense of solemnity is resonant and heartfelt; it’s always great to see contemporary small-town narratives given space to bloom.”
— Malaika Kegode