"Susan has a pair of god-gifted dancing shoes
They can take her away from this weary world
Like the smoke of a cigarette
It was a cloudy night
When she kissed me and floated into the heavens
Honey, goodbye
What a night
What a beautiful night
So beautiful
How it makes me weep"
A connection of three young people in a remote area of China, each dealing with a deep sense of melancholy, each frozen to some extent by life, each wandering a maze wondering which way to turn. The affluent guy from Shanghai is disillusioned with the world and avoiding his mental health provider, the tour guide has had her dreams of being a figure skater broken and is estranged from her family, and the local cook who was never much good in school is dealing with unrequited love and wondering if this is all there is to life. You could say it's a trifecta of loneliness and depression. While the film quietly hit me in the gut (hell, you could say quietly pummeled me), somehow it didn't feel leaden, maybe because the characters are buoyed by being with one another. The snowy, rugged landscape around Yanji, near the border with North Korea, fit the tone perfectly. Just a lovely film, acknowledging the tough times in life, but somehow finding ways to move forward, thus feeling guardedly optimistic.
