Mobile Navigation
US Premiere!
Directed by Emily Tang
All Apologies is a subtle study of the subterranean way two couples are tragically connected through the death of a child. Yonggui and his wife, Yun Zhen, left the countryside years ago, and he’s now a hardworking construction foreman, an agent of the urban renewal policy that has been profoundly affecting the Chinese cityscape. Hotheaded Heman used to be Yonggui’s driver; now Heman and his wife, Qiaoyu, run a tiny grocery store. After the unthinkable happens, Yonggui is convinced that a life is “owed” to him, and that he is entitled to take what he wants or needs. Qiaoyu is no less convinced that it is her duty to “pay” for her husband’s mistake and misfortune. Emily Tang’s mise en scène eschews melodrama, and instead paints an impressionistic picture of the changing relationships between men and women in contemporary China, calling forth a wealth of details, gestures, off-screen gazes and intimate moments.
All Apologies was shot in and around the city of Guilin in Guangxi Province, the atmosphere and landscapes of which are rendered with documentary-like precision. On art direction, Tang collaborated with Hong Kong filmmaker William Kwok (author of the moody Darkness Bride, 2003), composing a palette of ochres, browns and greys, dusty streets, dirt roads, modest domestic spaces and dimly lit interiors. Through their own expressive qualities as well as the structure of the shots and the editing strategy, the decors are narratively as important as the ethical and affective dilemmas of the protagonists.
– Bérénice Reynaud
Producer: Yang Jian, Chow Keung. Screenwriter: Han Jie, Emily Tang, Dong Fang. Cinematographer: Lai Yiu-fai. Editor: Chow Keung, Baek Seung-hoon. Cast: Cheng Taishen, Yang Shuting, Liang Jing, Gao Jin.
HDCAM, color, Putonghua w/ English s/t, 90 min.
