Summary
A mid-length film that speaks to the Asian-American experience but also with a universality that comes from existing between two places.
Not since Risa Bramon Garcia’s 1999 film has this specific amount of cigarettes been used as a measurement of time. In Tianyu Ma’s thesis film, a timely exploration of the ex-pat Asian-America experience, the waiting (as Tom Petty once sang) is the hardest part.
The mid-length film follows writer Xia (Zhong Hua) and her best friend — struggling actor Jie (Zheng Yezhou) — in their Boston apartment. After leaving China in 2019, Jie auditions for the occasional role, while Xia writes for low-budget Chinese dramas. She also appears to be in a perpetual holding pattern, lining up packets of the titular smokes on a windowsill and hoping for contact from the fellow she’s in love with.
“Based on more than one true story,” the tongue-in-cheek title cards tells us at the start. So begins a sharply shot, floating narrative that speaks to the ennui of one’s 20s (and beyond), as well as reflecting on Ma’s own cross-cultural experiences as an Asian woman living in the US. Filled with overlapping dialogue and disjointed imagery, the film envelopes the audience in Xia’s perspective for its brief running time.
Ma punctuates her loose impressionistic narrative with moments of solitude — Xia dancing by herself in the apartment, arriving home to the sounds of off-camera sex from her flatmate — and attempts to connect with the world. She picks up a guy at a liquor store, but keeps him at arm’s length. Later, there’s a model shoot followed by group sex imbued with the same general malaise.
From the nighttime opening to the wintery scapes of the final scenes, 200 CIGARETTES FROM NOW is also a pretty film. Cheng Lang’s photography captures the intimacy and semi-claustrophobia of Xia and Jie’s existence.
Ma chooses to leave us with an open ending and, as the length of the film would imply, emphasises that this is just a snapshot in these character’s lives. “I just want to be happy,” Xia concludes. “This is not.” Despite her best attempts to will the weather in the opposite direction, her endless summer comes to a close as the snow begins.
2021 | China, USA | DIRECTOR: Tianyu Ma | WRITER: Tianyu Ma | CAST: Zhong Hua, Zheng Yezhou | DISTRIBUTOR: Carrie Tang, International Film Festival Rotterdam | RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 2-6 June 2021 (NL)
