An Unfinished Film

Just finished watching An Unfinished Film in the cinema. As a film that is prohibited from being screened in mainland China, it's actually quite restrained in its portrayal. The scene where the crew reunites and toasts as the song "Twilight" plays is both peaceful and poignant; the melody and lyrics feel so powerful.

When you think about it, what has Lou Ye captured in this film? Nothing more than documentation. The camera is honest, and the person holding it is not afraid of being blacklisted. A literally unfinished film, a banned old song-woven together, they fight against a memory that is fading and constantly redefined. Though the viewing experience was a bit traumatic, I don't regret it at all; I found it meaningful. Thank you, Lou Ye.

I had long heard of this film and rushed to see it as soon as it screened in London. As the film says, how tragic it is to finish a movie that can't be shown. But during a masterclass, the director said he simply forgot-forgot that filming here wasn't allowed, forgot about censorship. He just filmed what they wanted to film, and only afterward did they think about how to solve the problems.

"All your life, you search for a reason to love the land beneath your feet. But what does the greatness defined by others mean to you?" What moved me the most were the real documentary footage and the ending theme. Turns out, I haven't forgotten anything after all. While the film's value lies more in its social reality than in its artistic form, I'm grateful to see directors like Lou Ye still documenting what truly happens in China.

The first half, which moves from the pseudo-documentary format of the crew rebooting a decade-old project in late 2019, to positive footage shot ten years ago, eventually stopping at a screen shot of a documentary format blooper reel. And the second half gradually shifts from a pseudo-documentary at an isolation point to a cell phone vertical screen pseudo-documentary, and finally returns to real web footage. In the epilogue everyone gathers for a drink, speechless, just watching the real documentary material. The director's purpose is also called out. That is, under such a drastic change of the times, man-made movies will be forced to give way to real documentary material at the same time. Forced by the objective environment and the lack of filming conditions, active by the creators to recognize the powerlessness of man-made scripts, even if things have passed, the process of trying to restore the story in any case is not as powerful as the real material. Therefore, this movie is also very self-reflexive while being expressive at the same time. That is, through a pseudo-documentary movie format, it tells everyone about the powerlessness of drama and pseudo-documentary movies. That's why the rating for this movie itself is contradictory. On the other hand, in terms of scarcity, it is indeed one of the few non-main theme movies in mainland China with an epidemic as its background. After making these points clear, I believe we can all make our own judgments. The movie's score and awards thus become less important.

This experimental film draws its essence from temporal dislocation-repurposing old movie footage and blending it with newly shot material to form a new narrative. The resulting intertwining of timelines creates a hazy, dreamlike atmosphere. Especially under the shadow of the pandemic, it pulls the audience into this suspended space where time and memory dissolve into one.

The frequent use of phone-shot footage embedded within the cinematic frame adds a layer of realism, though it also feels jarring-hovering somewhere between documentary and fiction. The dramatic tension reaches its peak under themes of lockdown and conflict, evoking a collective memory. Viewers are transported back to that surreal period.

Though the film may not reach a wide audience, it stands as a vital visual record of an extraordinary time. The dialogue often references things invisible to the audience, leaving them amused or confused-like the director's private jokes or self-mockery. Still, the existence of this film ensures that one day, someone will watch it. And that alone is enough.

I've personally never been a fan of mockumentaries or realist noir. But this unfinished film, as its title suggests, remains forever incomplete-both within and beyond the frame. It's a film doomed never to be finished, echoing the countless "unfinished" stories left in the wake of the pandemic: lives interrupted, dreams unrealized, wounds unhealed.

Just like that piercing line from Jiang Cheng-"What's the point if it's just a few of us watching, saying it's great, saying it's powerful?"-that sense of helplessness, of idealism bowing to reality, is a transitional pain we've all gone through. During those three unforgettable years etched into the memory of 1.4 billion Chinese people, the regret of the 'unfinished' was magnified into a collective trauma of our era.

That's why I have deep admiration for anyone who continues to pursue what they love. LY is one of them. When I saw the chaotically arranged clips on his phone, I understood I'm never going to be a competent filmmaker. And yet, like them, I still carry the urge to record, to create. I remain just another ordinary person-a corroded wolf in the wasteland. At least Harry still had the wolf in him; mine is fading, bit by bit. Writing this is how I keep myself breathing.

Back to the film itself. I believe every Chinese person will find it unforgettable. The first time I ever felt what it meant to witness history was when I mistook the events in the film for those happening around me. And today, I can see in the film what was indeed happening around me back then.

The loop closes-it all makes sense now. That clarity is eerie, yet profoundly real. The act of showing, recording, and dramatic innovation-all of it-pales next to life itself. Life is the most precious, the hardest script to write. But we don't need to assign artificial value to it. Simply being able to see and remember our own lives-that is the hardest film to ever finish.