Good Cats

Colour, DV Cam
China, 2008, 103 min
WP – World premiere
Section: Forum of Independents

Synopsis

The name of the film is taken from reformist politician Deng Xiaoping’s principle that it doesn’t matter if a cat is black or white – as long as it catches mice, it’s a good cat. The ends justifying the means mentality paints a picture of modern-day China tainted by a money-hungry rat race. Many Chinese films have dealt with this theme in recent years, but the work of director Ying Liang towers above them in the supreme originality of its interpretation. While it follows the irresponsible life of the main protagonist, a chauffeur for the head of a real-estate agency, it shows the changes that rapid urbanisation has brought to Sichuan. In the director’s vision, human existence is dominated by impalpable paradoxes, and day-to-day life is permeated with surreal events playing out on the border between reality, absurdity and hallucination. Imitating the lazy impartiality with which the protagonist views his world, the camera apathetically observes the mise-en-scene in which immediacy is wed with a fine-spun composition.

About the director

Ying Liang (b. 1977, Shanghai) is one of the most distinct artists of the young generation of contemporary Chinese filmmakers. He studied direction at the film academy in Chongqing and at Peking University. Since 1999 he has made several shorts, many of which were awarded at the prominent Beijing Student Film Festival. His first feature-length film, Taking Father Home (Bei yazi de nanhai, 2006), made with non-professional actors and a budget of 3,000 Euros, was extolled at the time as one of the most impressive debuts and, after its screening at the Tokyo FILMeX festival where it received a Special Jury Prize, the film circuited festivals all over the world. The director asserted his creative skills and distinctive style with his next film, The Other Half (Ling yi ban, 2006), and with his latest work, Good Cats (2008).