First film by director Qiu Jiongjiong -- about a restauranteur, his patrons, and the culture of art, poetry, and performance that surrounds them.

The mother is in her eightieth, the son is in his sixtieth, they talking about their past.

影片继续融合神话、传说、文学和民间故事，进一步拓展他关于历史和怪谈的叙事。
这个以四川美食为背景的故事分为四个部分：4000多年前的一场丧宴，一位祖母割下自己的尾巴送给子孙后代；3000多年前的春节，一位先王化身为鸟归来，在宴会上受难；20世纪90年代的一场中秋宴，众神齐聚一堂，向一位千年古诗人致敬；以及一个流浪儿遇见冥界神祇的生日宴。

Zhang Xianchi is a man thrown into the Cultural Revolution and its afterimage, plunged into the ideological deadlocks of the era and suffering its consequences beyond it. Born into a family that supports the nationalist Kuomintang, Zhang eventually became a leftist and joined the Communist Party. But his family’s background eventually catches up with him, and in a series of bureaucratic measures, he is labelled as a Rightist, leading to a slew of irrational yet life-affecting consequences. His story is told through an exhilarating hybrid of forms, blending documentary-styled interviews and spectral theatrical displays within an ever-mutating studio-space. Hypnagogic in its imagery and ironic in attitude, Mr. Zhang Believes is a tour-de-force treatise of a man caught within dogmatic political maneuverings, which it critiques indirectly with creative and stoic fervour.

一只自由散漫的猴子，陪着一个酗酒的胖子来到了小麻村，这里还有一个残暴的村长，胖子来此寻仇。

八十多岁的妈和六十岁的儿共同老去，有盐有味演讲漫长生活史。八十多岁的妈和六十岁的儿共同老去，在光阴中踉跄地捍卫：主见与天赋。
影片段落：《不自在》、《自在》、《生育组曲》、《自在不自在》及三出《过场戏》。
影片对白：四川方言

主持人……演员……鼓佬……琴师……
2007年五月。四川乐山的一座重建的剧院内。大家正在紧张地排练……
准备着：在一位川剧老演员逝世二十周年之际举行一台丑角专场的纪念演出……

烈日当空，法医剖开一具腐烂的女尸……
一个农民，挑着情人的肉与肝招摇过市……
两个逃犯藏身山洞内，令全副武装的警方损兵折将，束手无策……
这些二、三十年前的老案件被其亲历者之一 —— 退休警察黄老老娓娓道来。
夏日午后，知了聒噪；惊悚来袭，夹杂着乡土的明媚……

讲的是迷雾中，后知后觉；一方刀子般的过河卒。

Qiu Jiongjiong's stark black-and-white series of interviews with transsexual cabaret singer Madame Bi Langda. Madame Bi's recollections of past experiences explicitly touch on how she performs her way through life, whether interacting with friends, lovers or her audience. More than a document of the increasingly complicated gender identity politics in China, it's also a poignant testimony of a life dedicated to articulating the aesthetics of living.

2021 film