As he is heading to his father’s funeral, Li Mo bumps into An Delie, who just so happens to be his childhood best friend. The two have not been in contact since their middle school days, and even though both are attending the same funeral, the other friend claims he has no clue who Li Mo is. In his attempts to jog the memory of his friend he takes him on an adventure that is both a physical road trip and a trip through their memories together.
Dong Jizian is an incredible filmmaker who has directed a masterpiece where one half focuses on the protagonist’s’ childhood which is set in Northeastern China in the 90’s and the other half is set in the present time in Southern China. The time setting of the first half of the film is of importance since the area being the hub of traditional industries, such as heavy machinery, resulted in a variety of factories closing due to the industries being neglected. This in turn lead to millions of people being unemployed and families being torn apart. These aspects greatly affected the environment of the first half of the movie, and a theme of decay is present in both the setting and the characters.
Li Mo is contending with a partner who bears acute contempt towards both herself and Li Mo’s father, while An Delie appears to be enduring severe physical abuse from his father, judging on his new friend’s remarks about the bruises on his skin. The manner in which the two become friends is intriguing, with An Delie practically intruding on Li Mo’s life, even though the latter respects his ‘stalker’ for his tenacity and warmongering, even in public. Furthermore, the overall evolution of their relationship starting off with sparks, proceeds into romance, and ends up in a much darker place, along with their phenomenal acting skills are what made this film stand out from the rest, with Finn Hann taking the lead and Xingkai Chi starring as Li Mo.
Simultaneously, and particularly in the current narrative, Dong Zijian creates an atmosphere where one might feel rather lost, which could also be termed as dreamlike and this is due to the visuals and the actions of the two old friends. With respect to the first aspect, DP Lyu Songye (who was associated more than once with the late Pema Tseden) adopts appears drowsy style which is sometimes rigidly impressive in his framing and his creative utilization of lights and shadows. At the same time, it makes the setting devoid of the characteristics of some sort of a utopia, which is certainly enticing.
The other two have interactions which further add to the atmosphere that was for mention as well, in addition to appearing at times as picturesque, however I must confess, this is a twist that is later uncovered which I believe was perhaps better executed than what it was. And to this, we return to the fact that the film lasts a little over 100 minutes; that is, with a film of this length some of the scenes from the latter half of what could have good pacing feel somewhat sluggish. The excellent editing by Chang Sukping has worked quite well overall, both arcs pace and switches have been executed nicely.
The two actors work well alongside the rest of the cast. Liu Haoran as Li Mo captures his exasperation in a very convincing manner exemplifying a realistic approach to the character. While Dong Zijian steps into the role of An Delie impressively, portraying the quiet and nice guy that later evolves into something more interesting. Once again, the two share an amazing chemistry.
Apart from a few minor flaws, “My Friend An Delie” is still a fantastic film where Dong Zijian steps into the shoes of the two characters seamlessly weaving together the two plots, achieving a stunning combination of story, context, look and performance.
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