The film is divided into three segments, all focusing on the same angling of the movie being filmed in the outlandish town of Yong’an. The first chapter, like in most of the cinematography, zeroes in on the pre-production aspect, the only difference is that the main character is Xiao Gu, a waitress who serves the production staff of the movie at her in-laws restaurant. All things considered, she has come to loathe her lifestyle because she has a infant that her husband is mostly absent for, working the majority of the time during the night, meanwhile her mother-in-law never forgets to berate her everyday. At some point in the film when the director of the making-of expresses interest in her, it does not come as a surprise that Xiao Gu eagerly accepts the offer for a small role.
The second chapter is based on a local icon Chen Chen who moves back into the town she grew up in. People are quite fond of the heroine’s pacifistic nature and her desire to remain unseen and unheard, but unfortunately due to her fame, she is unable to strike out the title of a celebrity which makes her move quite ostentatious.
In the third chapter, the film director finds himself, or rather Wei, engrossed in his role as a script-writer but constantly locked in a lofty argument with the director about his writing. Simultaneously, the added pressure that everyone in the crew was under as time ticked by and the script still wasn’t finished, started to become rather apparent, with Wei roping in producers who only added their friends as the cast, critics, sponsors, and even Chen Chen in the movie.
Through the three chapters, Wei makes a number of comments about the movie which are directed to address a much larger audience. As was discussed earlier, in the first chapter for instance, Wei looks into the status of women in a typical Chinese household, and in particular how family responsibilities are thrust upon them. Xiao Gu becomes the chief source of such cruel remarks while her character also indicates how the film industry is a means of escape, which Wei starts off with a firm resolve of undergoing a painstaking tragic-comedy of sorts. Huang Miyi as Xiao gu puts up a commendable act portraying well the disappointment, the expectation and the disillusionment of her character. Especially moving is the sequence when she begins to hope, and her general behavior makes strong shifts.
The main inspiration for Chen Chen’s fascinating idea presented in the previous chapter was the ‘coming-back’ ideal of Zhang Zhan and Zhang Zhan’s city pride complex. At first, practically everyone seems to cheer and applaud her, but the mentality of such places tends to set in. Even casual acquaintances hope that she would be able to include them in the movie or even better take them to meet the producers. The fact that most of the people thanking her for meeting are rather jealous of Zishan and Zishan’s unwillingness to befriend them adds even more to the above comment, while also making her understand that sometimes returning home is simply not worth it. The episodes where she encounters her ex boyfriend and how their kaleidoscope of emotions has the ability to evolve from sexual excitement to anger and disdain. Yang Zishan is also great in the role and evidentially displays a person who is constantly in an attempt to remain warm and courteous regard the above mentioned until it reaches a certain point.
The first two parts contain a film about the film as well in the form of showing what goes on about the movie with all the people who want to participate and in that some of the crew members take advantage of it. But the third part is the one which actually takes a closer look at how movies are made, the constant tussle with a director who thinks he’s the best and a scriptwriter who wants to act realistic is fair depiction of real life. The way other people affect the equation which is supposed to be between the two of which Chen Chen is one who wants to force have her character but the critic plays the role of the director bashing the script writer till he explodes, producer throwing money in the face of the director only to lure him to have more casting which the script writer has to fix in the narrative of the film makes the atmosphere much more of a tight one. Wei once again survives to present the situation in a tragicomical way. Repeating the phrase for the good of Chinese cinema here is in some ways sarcastic which should be expected watching the film as well as the approach of the film remember it does some good in pointing out the order disorder there is in the film making process always.
Two actors share great chemistry as Wei’s directing skills come to play. Liu Yang on the other hand whilst acting as a director seems to be delivering a confusing story. He constantly believes himself to be in charge but yet seems to have lost control of the story, who somewhat directed it and the character Have himself Yan Zhu. Kang Chunlei provides the best dialogues due to the fact that he wrote them himself while also showcasing fantastic acting skills by expressing a sense of irritation within.
Drinking, deadpan humor and fighting seem to be Wei’s often used tools in his videos, such as Hong Sang-soo who displays the same similarity. However Wei tends to mock his own videos, for example, when a boy who looks like Kim Min-hee flirts with her. Furthermore the visual effects in Wei’s videos are immensely better than Hong Sang-soo enhanced videos through the direction of Wang Jiehong. The images that were used during the initial parts of the movie were outstanding as Wei ensured even the colors were suitable.
He employs real windows to create scenes and can seize the essence of life within a small, impoverished village. That in itself is a accomplishment. The editing style is suited for the sluggish tempo, and art-house characteristics of the movie perfectly, and the way part transitions seekingly fits there with three of them until forming a loop. That is done by Matthieu Laclau.
The combination of distinctively European comicality, distinctly Chinese settings, people and themes makes “Ripples of Life” equally artistic and intelligent. Couldn’t it be possible, however, and here I am expressing a purely personal opinion, to make a film about a certain Chinese city, china that is bereft of the destitute?
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