Only my second Hu Ge movie after Wild Goose Lake.
Wen Shan is a washed out character, much like the greys he keeps wearing, moving in the grey world of Beijing. It's hard to figure him out in the first hour, till I resigned myself to the idea that maybe this movie isn't about Wen Shan. He becomes a repository of people's grief, resentment, conflicting memories, frustrations and so on. You get a much better picture of the subjects of his eulogies and of those feeding him the content. Those left behind. He seems to serve the purpose of bringing some reconciliation. His annoying prodding for observation notes, for character background, unleashes something in them. Things are said, revealed.
Wen Shan himself remains mostly in the shadows, the way he likes it. There is the mystery of his roommate. There is his failed career. Or he gave up. It's when people start prodding into his own life that the layers are peeled off. And there are some surprises. Maybe his problem is seeing everybody as ordinary, including himself. Even the most unusual people appear ordinary when you know them for long says one of his customers. It finally triggers something in him.
An unusual format, with an unusual male lead, and an actor clearly playing against type. I never thought Hu Ge could look like that. He is clearly devoted to the craft.
