Top 10 Chinese films in 2011
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 23, 2012
1. Piano in a Factory
It's a dark rhapsody; it's a sad "chicken soup for the soul" and it's a sincere black comedy which examines China's changing industrial landscape.
The film revolves around a steel piano being constructed by a recently laid-off father. He attempts to make the piano in order to please his daughter and win custody of her from his wife (her mother) from whom he is divorced.
The story is set against the backdrop of a desolate industrial centre in northeast China during the 1990s and involves a group of characters who struggle through that transformative period.
Director Zhang Meng, who was himself born in northeast China, took a genuinely offbeat, layered approach towards dealing with the period. The film is infused with a sense of often self-deprecating humor and grit, and yet is also tinged with a sense of sadness.
The small-budget comedy, distinct from more low-brow slapstick efforts, was met with high acclaim from industry professionals and movie critics alike, and has been screened at numerous international film festivals.
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