Description
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A landmark of Sixth Generation Chinese filmmaking, Lou Ye’s international breakthrough reworks elements of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and film noir into an impressionistic wash of dreamy images and intoxicating romanticism. Along the industrial banks of the Suzhou River, which winds precariously through Shanghai, Marda (Jia Hongsheng) falls in love with a beautiful young woman named Moudan (Zhou Xun, soon to be one of her generation’s most esteemed actors). When he loses her in an attempted kidnapping gone wrong, she seems to disappear into the river forever—until he meets MeiMei (Zhou Xun again), a woman who performs a nightclub act as a mermaid and who happens to look exactly like Moudan. “It’s hard not to be swept up by the strong current of Suzhou River: a seductive and atmospheric conundrum that works pleasingly as an exercise in storytelling” (Lizzie Francke, Sight and Sound). Description adapted from the Criterion Channel.
(Dir.: Lou Ye, China, 2000, 83 min., DCP, Mandarin with English subtitles)
Accessibility: The public elevator in the West Building (Freer Gallery of Art) is out of service, so your route to the event location may take a few more minutes than usual. Use the accessible entrance at the corner of Independence Avenue and 12th Street SW, and follow the directions when you arrive. Get more accessibility details.
Films are shown in the 300-seat Meyer Auditorium. Preregistration (up to four tickets per person per film) is encouraged but not required. Seating is available on a first–come, first served basis for patrons without tickets.
Image Courtesy of Strand Releasing
