Film: Black Snow
Release date: 8th March 2010
Certificate: 15
Running time: 107 mins
Director: Xie Fei
Starring: Jiang Wen, Yue Hong, Cheng Lin, Hongxiang Cai
Genre: Crime/Drama
Studio: Second Run
Format: DVD
Country: China
Black Snow is a pretty straight-forward tragic-drama in which our protagonist, a criminal who’s paid his dues, finds his path to a quiet life barred by his past in particular, and society in general. However, the curiosity factor is high as this film was made in Beijing, back in 1990.
Li Huiquan was arrested for his part in an assault in which a man was stabbed by his best friend, Chazi. Returning from a three year sentence in a labour camp, Li Huiquan arrives to his family home to find it deserted - his mother having passed away a few months earlier. He tries to connect with Chazi’s family, but they have turned their back on him.
Things start to improve when, after setting up a market stall, he meets a black marketer called Cui Yongli, who is able to supply him with more attractive goods and is asked to escort a young singer called Zhou home from a nightclub. Soon he is earning more money and has a shot at romance. However, it doesn’t last, as Yongli tries to pressure Li into undertaking more illicit merchandise and manages to steer the singer away from him. Not only that, but Chazi has escaped from prison...
Black Snow doesn’t deliver any thrills or action moments. Instead it’s a stark portrayal of a man trying to survive a system set up to oppose him. Left semi-literate thanks to the Cultural Revolution, Li survived by being in a gang, with a reputation for being a tough guy. One night he drunkenly accepts the notion of taking revenge on his friend’s two-timing girlfriend by beating up the man she’s cheating with – and he doesn’t seem to have any qualms about what Chazi intends to do with the girl.
Xie Fei’s film, although made in 1990, feels like it belongs in another era, a hybrid of Italian neorealism or French New Wave. The authentic, poverty-stricken locations lend to the former, while the red-lit nightclubs and cool-looking star point to the latter. The camera at times takes a neutral, fly-on-the-wall stance, while at other times, especially when nothing is actually going on, the camera slowly glides around, taking in little details (such as the pictures stuck on Li’s bedroom wall).
The neorealism is accentuated by the lack of a score (save for the songs Zhou peforms during her act). Instead we are constantly treated to the background noise of the neighbourhood – trains passing by, families fighting, dogs barking…
Black Snow is shot in a linear fashion except for the flash-back which shows Li and Chazi’s crime. It arrives unexpectedly and there is no signpost to let you know you’re in a flash-back. Instead you’re left wondering what the hell Li has just done. This is compounded when a policeman visits him the next morning to reprimand Li on his behaviour the night before.
Jiang Wen does a great job as Li. Even though we only see him the once before his imprisonment, you can tell that three years hard labour has changed him. Li can barely read and write, which hinders his career potential. His lack of education is highlighted in the correspondence he has with Chazi, and when he comes across an open-air concert, he has no reference or understanding of what is happening on-stage - and is bewildered when the audience starts laughing. Li just wants to settle down and keep out of trouble. But like Michael Corleone, he keeps getting dragged into potentially dangerous situations. Most of which are related to his dogged loyalty to those who purport to be his friend but continually exploit him. As he begins to earn money though, Li can’t help but swagger a little bit, and he reminds me of the too-cool spirit of Chow Yun Fat in A Better Tomorrow – especially when he’s wearing his aviator sunglasses at night.
Cheng Lin, who plays Zhou, is actually a musician, and sang all the songs in the film. When we first meet Zhou, she is a naive young woman who was a finalist in a state-run talent competition. While her PR guy tries to promote her as the winner, the first thing she tells her audience is she actually came fourth. She and Li might have had a sweet romance – the first time he walks her home, at the behest of her management, Li rides his bike while she walks beside him. Later we see Li letting her ride on the back of the bike. People try to warn Zhou away from Li but she can’t see the dark side to him.
Li and Zhou might have had a chance, if it weren’t for Cui Yongli. Cui befriends Li because he remembers the tough guy before he went to prison and wants a bit of muscle within his circle. He has big schemes, such as selling copies of porn videos, and constantly has piles of black market goods stacked in his house, like Del Boy in Only Fools And Horses. Thanks to his involvement in Zhou’s life, she ends up being a much more jaded person, hanging onto her career and not letting anyone – even someone who cares for her, like Li – take her away from it.
Black Snow is a film that grows on you. The languid pace doesn’t make it the most obvious choice, but the style of filmmaking is unlike anything you’re likely to see today, and it offers a unique look at life on the bread line in Beijing twenty years ago. MOW
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