Umbrella...

Dir: Du Haibin
Eds: Mary Stephen, Du Haibin, Zang Jiali, Fang Lei
2007 / Colour / Digital file / Mandarin / Chi & Eng subtitles / 93min

Through a careful study of life among factory workers, tradespeople, peasants, students and soldiers, Umbrella... taps into the deep ambivalence of new materialism in modern China where cities and rural areas are wedged apart by a growing disparity between rich and poor. Drawing on the tradition of a protest documentary that uses the long form of an accumulation of details to make a point, the director performs microscopic inspections of the minutiae of everyday life and the plight of individuals. In the virtual absence of narration, Stephen's rhythmic editing style with jump cuts is captivating with a rhetoric of visuals and a synthesis of poetry, creating a telling distillation of the Chinese society and all its failings in a nutshell.