Zhou Zhou’s feature debut centers around the life of their protagonist Meili who hails from China and depicts a feeling that is distinct yet reminiscent of the traditional values such as respecting one’s family and working hard. Meili is a woman in her early 20s that feels the need to seek the spotlight while also taking care of her family. She is burdened with many responsibilities such as taking care of her girlfriend who is a professional party animal and does not have time to spare. In exchange for taking care of their child, her sister and brother-in-law abuse her psychologically, which greatly deteriorates Meili’s wellbeing. To summarize, Meili lives a monotonous life that is bleak and filled with unfortunate encounters but in those encounters she’s able to spot bits of hope. However, even that subtle hope seems to be the first step of a greater downfall.
Without a doubt, whatever life Meili has, begins to disintegrate. She is terminated from her work, her girlfriend is kind enough to let Meili know that it would be bad manners if Meili travelled with her to Shanghai for a business trip, the brother in-law does what seems always to do only that this time he turns up the volume a bit striving to push Meili’s sister out of the house and into somewhere safer and blames everything wrong with him to Meili. Things, thanks to the random acts of kindness of Meili’s friends, occasionally seem to shift for the better. Ultimately, it helps to quell that hope which is hardly believable in the beginning, that the tale of Meili will end like a Shakespearean play with a ‘happy ever after’ novel.
One could argue that Meili is not a particularly original film; Zhou Zhou, a Chinese filmmaker, is able to highlight the more powerful elements of the film and remain firmly in the realm of DOGMA 95. Meili follows most of the DOGMA 95 guidelines, and even those who are unfamiliar with Asian non-Dogmatic art films would find the absence of background music surprising, albeit to a lesser extent. Not only does this mood emphasize the emotions of the moment(s) when music is introduced, but it also draws attention to the cinematographic elements of the film that are meant to shape the overall mood. In addition to this, the absence of music cues creates a sense of emptiness. The hand-held camera is constantly focused on Meili in this scene and only momentarily permits her to turn away from the action in order to create similar feelings of intimacy and confinement.
This translates to an excessive burden on Chi Yun and her performance. It is only fair to acknowledge that regardless of how many attempts are required, she never wavers or cuts off the moment nor the emotional pour making Meili out with all her might and intelligence, portraying rather a broad range of emotions and processes than simplifying them to a smiling or a frowning face which lasts from ‘roll’ to ‘cut’. Her performance, constant tracking of the camera, and depth of the sound compose a harmonious blend.
Grenov, unfortunately, loses control of the flow and boundaries of the narrative. Inferiority rather than a trademark is portrayed as a trait ‘the Jain Films Company, which prides itself as the best ever independent art house film company. The storyline in this instance also employs an unconventional style, but in order to achieve the intended effect upon the audience, fails to start moving towards entertaining a while as if to add realism to the film narrative.’ In the image of ‘Meili’, life’s challenges and grit are represented too plausibly which makes it appear unrealistic. Hence the little strategy and aggressive selling out she is made to go through who for Zhou Zhou when in reality she didn’t need to go into many visions to clash. At this point Chi Yun together with Zhou Zhou become words unassociated and suddenly story-telling just grows out of their reach.
In summary, there is a film that considers the ordinary, dirty aspects of life and goes above and beyond to develop characters and details that may set “Meili” apart from its competitors. The filmmakers even try to adopt a suitable narrative style that further enhances that bleak atmosphere. However, the film in question loses its sharpness and is relegated to the status of one of many ‘small’ independent movies that have been seized by the rules of artisanal cinema rather than having been given any such meaning.
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