Two Generations Documented in the Deeply Moving 'Four Springs'
The debut film by a 45-year-old amateur filmmaker. A shooting process that extended over four years. Nearly 10 million tickets sold since its theatrical release earlier this month. Nominations for Best Documentary and Best Film Editing at Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards. It's no wonder that Four Springs is getting a lot of attention in the Chinese press. Best yet, all screenings also have English subtitles, so there's no reason why it shouldn't be on your watch list too.
A scene showing the landscape of Lu's hometown in Guizhou
Lu Qingyi's documentary captures his parent’s daily life in a small town in Guizhou province, southwest China. The two have been married for over 50 years and as is obvious from even the first few minutes, are still deeply in love. These moments are framed by everyday occurrences – the arrival of the swallows, the blossoming of a wintersweet tree – putting smiles on their faces. It also shows how the couple faces reunions, separation, and untimely departures.
The 105-minute film was edited down from 250 hours of recordings which Lu shot between 2013 and 2016, and is made up of four sequences. Each sequence unfolds during the arrival of spring; a time that signals the beginning of a new life cycle and when families around China reunite to celebrate Chinese New Year. As well as visits with relatives and the related celebrations, the camera doesn't shy away from the mountains of delicious homemade food (we don’t suggest you go to watch the movie with an empty stomach).
Lu's parents look at old photos
Lu left his hometown at the age of 15, and as he described in a recent interview, felt that he had become a kind of outsider to his family. This detachment allowed him to observe the lifestyle, customs, and landscape of his hometown from a new perspective, leading the viewer to explore it with him.
Following his camera lens, we don’t see much heart-stirring drama, but instead mundane scenes of day-to-day life – his parents making smoked sausages, walking in the hills and fields, taking care of the plants, playing instruments, giving each other haircuts… all of which may seem unremarkable, yet form a heartwarming backdrop that fleshes out the two sprightly protoganists.
A long-lens shot showing Lu's mother and father in different rooms
One particularly emotional scene plays out in a long shot, with Lu’s mother sewing in one room, and Lu’s father singing along with the computer in another. It makes for a beautiful image and demonstrates the message of harmony in diversity, which according to traditional Chinese principles, defines a successful marriage.
Lu's parents on an excursion to surrounding fields
The camera often lingers on the natural world, sometimes down through the skylight in the courtyard and sometimes up, showing swallows flying overhead and the changing weather, or framing the natural beauty of the village and gently reflecting the family’s sorrows and happiness.
Nature is also reflected in the film’s score, which is composed entirely of the sounds of the family and their surroundings, such as singing from Lu’s parents and his sister, the chirping of the swallows, the sound of the wind and the rain, and people chit-chatting to each other in the local dialect. It all complements the images on-screen, and takes the audience on an immersive journey to Lu's rural small town in Guizhou, and indeed many similar towns in China.
Lu's parents look toward the mountains, dancing to old communist songs
Perhaps most remarkably, Lu is successful in keeping himself – a family member and loving son – completely out of the frame and remains an observer throughout so as to provide an objective record of the family’s life.
Over the four years, the family experiences both happiness and irretrievable loss. The swallows make their annual return, the plants in the field start to sprout, Lu’s parents look far into the mountains, and dance along to songs they once sang in their youth. Another spring unfolds. Some things are the same, others are most certainly not.
Four Springs is now showing in cinemas around Beijing. All viewings have English and Chinese subtitles. Check out the full trailer below:
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Photos: Weibo.com
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