QUICK AND DIRTY: LIVE FROM TALLINN

Family structures are tricky: take one person out of the equation, or add another in, and the dynamic changes completely. And this is the case for this Chinese family, who witness their son Zhao-Hang leave their nest for Estonia and a potential a music career at the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. All of a sudden Guang-Dong has to find a vessel to close off the emptiness in his soul. Directorial duo Victoire Bonin & Lou Du Pontavice don’t have all the answers, but they offer some decent questions which will resonate with viewers long after the runtime has ended.

What drives The Watchman is the love of family. In this unit, everything comes together in a manner that works for development and interplay. Guang-Dong makes a formidable presence, who can only keep track of his child’s adventures through the little factoids he receives by telephone. Similarly to the refugees in The Stranger’s Case (Brandt Andersen, 2024), the characters in this reality are beset with moral confusions, keenly steering the younger generation through a variety of wisdoms and clear-cut ideas. At the heart of both projects comes a father who will do anything for their children, even if they cannot say it in words.

The path Zhao-Hang has chosen for himself is very different to the one his parents journeyed. It’s one lit up by adventure, possibility, spontaneity and disorder. Like many young men, he has to decide whether he should please the model his parents laid out for him, and carve a more dangerous life for himself; albeit one that is his own invention. Identity guides these people across a series of hoops and hurdles, their own personal labyrinth.

Although the characters are Chinese, The Watchman is technically a French-Belgian co-production, which might account for the European flavours within the work. Indeed, it bounces along at a rate of a 1960s European work, soaking in the environment around them. It’s difficult to discern where the divisions between humanity and geography begin, as everything lines up accordingly in front of the camera, pitching an element of unity between the dimensions. The labour of six years, Bonin & Du Pontavice’s passion for their subject is evident from the earliest frames: a concrete set-up of holistic intention.

It’s interesting that a movie guided by the eyes of men was directed by two women, but that might explain the sensitivity of the work, both in subject matter and execution. What follows is a selection of slow, lingering edits and stable, steady camera shots. Where the subjects are framed, it is positioned against the mighty backdrop of the environment. The symbolism is clear: everyone seems small against the vastness of the globe, no matter the loftiness of their ambitions.

Naturally, the men recognise aspects of each other in the respective person. Age and geography shifts them far from one another, but the bond never breaks. Love, the energy that fuels every family unit, is ultimately the mechanism that keeps them going at all times over this period of separation. In his own way, Guang-Dong keeps an eye on the child from afar, offering what he can, when he can, with what is at his disposal. And then there’s the son, hidden in the Estonian heartland, intwined by music and merriment. The further we travel in life, the closer it is home we feel, no matter the presence or the pressures around the place.

The Watchman just premiered in the brand new Doc@PÖFF section of the 28th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.