Blind Shaft

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🎙️ EPISODE 292: 08.07.2020 Well the gods of TRUE RANDOM are 2 for their last 2 (that's a 1.000% batting average, baseball fans). TRUEly one of those movies that make you scratch your head like a bozo and say or think something dumb, like "man oh man, there are SO many movies in the world, and how many GREAT ones will I not only never see, but never even HEAR about?" I'm giving this my very vague classic-non-classic score of 10B because I honestly just feel I'm too uninitiated with the world of Chinese cinema on the whole. Minor spoilers below..

Echoes of these stark landscapes, both symbolically and visually, abound in the contemporary work of young Chinese director Bi Gan, whose two recent films I've also reviewed. But while he embraces a muted ambling and occasionally experimental style, Yang's work is still deeply tied to narrative.

The film concerns the exploits of a pair of two brutal con artists, one older and one middle-aged, operating in the illegal coal mines of present-day northern China. They groom desperate saps into going to work the mines with them, convincing them that the only way they'll be hired is if they fake that they're related. Once their, they wait for there chance to kill the mark, stage it as an accident and collect 'hush' money. They make their first kill in the first five minutes of the minutes.

Their grift is as brutal as it gets. The money they recieve is barely enough to cover a week or so of debauchery, karaoke and whores. Then they need to restart the scam with a new, unfortunate loser at the end of his rope. Their choice of song for karaoke is an interesting one...

Yang has stated that he doesn't find the film to be political (noting that the novel its based on received China's highest literary award, the Lao She Literary Prize), and I can see that to a point. But in China, that's of little consequence. Everything's political, when they want it to be.

Yang’s film has been banned by the Beijing government whose policies are responsible for the horrendous conditions in Chinese mines. While Li Yang says he is “not political”, Blind Shaft constitutes a powerful indictment of the Stalinist regime. [wsws.org]

Their next mark is an even younger man, a teenager. For the junior crook, things feel off from the beginning. Perhaps he sees the ghost of the son he's abandoned in this 16-year-old? The kid is as innocent as the day is long. It's an excellent performance by Wang Baoqiang. This scene where he sits for his fake I.D. is heartbreaking...

They eventually get setup with work at a different mine. The setting is bleak. There is a bleakness in these Chinese films that is unmatched in modern cinema. The collective plight is something beyond poverty; there is a hardness to this life that, clearly, isn't easily described with words.

The prospective victim is very eager to get paid so he can send the money home to his family. It's beyond sad. The younger conman is having serious second thoughts, but he convinces himself that murdering this boy will only be right if they first get him laid. A virgin, he's confused and scared. When he's done, he's so ashamed he wants to die. The irony of that. Later, with a little time to reflect, his feelings change. It's a wonderful, wordless bit of filmmaking that speaks volumes...

I won't ruin the ending for you. Go seek this film out however you can. It's a great one.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 291A - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 292A ⫸

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