Light Pillar 寒夜灯柱 / Han ye deng zhu Panorama
Tickets
On sale viff.org
About
Xu Zao’s mellow, melancholy story is told in two modes — one “real” yet animated, the other virtual but filmed live-action. Light Pillar takes place in a decaying, largely disused film studio, where bottom-tier employee Lao Zha (Da Peng) lives and works. His is an empty life — he’s ignored by his workmates, he sleeps and eats alone save for a corpulent cat, and he has no real interests. Then one day, a change comes: in lieu of a salary, Lao Zha is given a virtual-reality setup that takes him into a realm of pleasure, chiefly in the form of a sexy female dancer (Qing Yi).
Xu has a gift for depicting stillness and desolation. His story is a grim one, but it’s presented with humour and whimsy. The film’s detached perspective, minimalist narrative, and sharp wit evoke poets of bleakness like Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurismäki, and Don Hertzfeldt, but Xu makes a special imprint of his own, sending up online obsession and showbiz while crafting a lament for the pre-digital world.
Xu has a gift for depicting stillness and desolation. His story is a grim one, but it’s presented with humour and whimsy. The film’s detached perspective, minimalist narrative, and sharp wit evoke poets of bleakness like Jim Jarmusch, Aki Kaurismäki, and Don Hertzfeldt, but Xu makes a special imprint of his own, sending up online obsession and showbiz while crafting a lament for the pre-digital world.
