QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM SAN SEBASTIAN

Based on the eponymous novel by Li Xiuwen, Bound in Heaven takes place in Chinese cities of Shanghai, Wuhan and Chongqing. during the early teens of this century. The landscape is unforgivingly urban, with a succession of skyscrapers offering the two leads very little respite. This is a country growing taller and faster than its inhabitants, who often struggle to find a meaning to their increasingly menial and anonymous existence.

The abusive Song (Liao Fan) beats his beautiful wife Xiao Yo (Ni Ni) to a pulp in Shanghai. She meets the uncommitted, happy-go-lucky Xu Zitai (Zhou You) for a one-night-stand, and they quickly fall in love. They run away to Wuhan, leaving her proud spouse desperately seeking to find her and take revenge. We know from the flash-forward opening that she killed him. Or at least that’s what she tells the investigating officers.

On their motorcycle journey to freedom, Xiao and Xu fall into a ravine. He bleeds heavily. and then reveal that he’s suffering from a very destructive stomach cancer. Xiao insists that Xu seeks treatment, but he vehemently rejects such possibility. He prefers to retain ownership over his ailing body, and to die at his convenience. He finds it more liberating to die than to live under sedation. She’s shocked at his decision, and uses some very unorthodox techniques in order to dissuade him. But that’s to no avail. Perhaps the only way to enjoy the romance is by accepting his fateful decision? They reach a peculiar compromise: Xiao accepts Xu’s refusal to seek treatment, as long he does not die without her permission.

Song eventually tracks the two tragic lovebirds, subjecting them to his sadistic power games. This includes physical and psychological torture. The story boasts some very strong emotional outbursts and twists, and graphic violence (the squelching sound of a knife is notably disturbing). Yet it neither fetishises nor sanitises those events. The actors are very committed to their performances; Ni is particularly visceral.

This is a vaguely Shakespearean tale of death and sacrifice, with the topics domestic violence and urban alienation thrown into the mix. The artistic values are very high. Songri Piao’s cinematography is precise and meticulous. Each frame is gingerly structured, and gently balanced. The camera movements are sparse and confident. The city is presented mostly in blueish hues, doused in solitude and melancholia. The countryside is verdant and bucolic. Fireworks add a touch of elegance, in an elegant closing scene captured by a drone. The minimalistic music score adds just the right amount of tension and adrenaline into the story. This is an impressive debut by female scribe-turned-helmer director Xin Huo (she exceptionally surrendered the writing this time to Yu Pan). A promising new talent, in a country with remarkably few female voices in film.

Bound in Heaven just premiered in the Official Competition of the 72nd San Sebastian International Film Festival.