Summary
Here’s a nostalgic look back to two years ago when we were just learning the name of a virus and community spirit was an internet meme.
So, are we ready to start watching films about the pandemic yet? After all, movies reflecting on the current crisis are inevitable. When we look back at all the great disasters and occurrences of the last century, they’ve all made it to the big screen in some form. During the Second World War, for example, studios pumped out topical pictures as a means of motivating the troops abroad and the folks back home.
So far, most of the pandemic era films have been made by and about the folks at home because that’s where we’ve been. Screenlife films have dominated the landscape as a means of accomodating an industry impacted by distancing, so director Xiaolu Xue’s EMBRACE AGAIN (穿过寒冬拥抱你) at least offers something a little bit different to the DIY isolife fare.
Opening in Wuhan in January 2020, we witness familiar sights of panic in supermarkets, uncertainty about what is happening and a general sense of growing isolation. As the film moves through the first few months of lockdown, it follows a series of semi-linked characters as they do their best to get by. There’s A-Yong (My People, My Homeland‘s Bo Huang), a tireless volunteer who is a true believer in dying for his country. Gig delivery worker Wu Ge (Hi Mom‘s Ling Jia) becomes involved in the life of a client with an underlying condition and the unofficial volunteer for the area. An affluent couple ponder life with their income streams impacted.
Xiaolu Xie doesn’t wander too far from the formula that worked so well for her in My People, My Country (2019). It’s a vehicle for national pride and feel-good spirit, after all, released just in time for the New Year slate. Is it obvious? Hell yes. Stuck in the ‘we’re all in this together’ vibe of 2020 — which in reality gave way to ‘it’s all your responsibility in 2021/2022’ — A-Yong is a one-man flagship for community spirit.
What we end up with is a snapshot of everyday heroes during a crisis. It’s a sanitised version, sure, but the recreated footage of a locked down Wuhan is a stark reminder of all-too-recent history. Yet the film works best when it concentrates on individual characters, especially Ling Jia’s hapless helper and her friendship with a hospital nurse. There’s a soft body positivity component to her thread as well, which is a nice change to the endless series of fat jokes that often pervade mainstream Chinese releases.
As the film ends on an optimistic note, ostensibly with the ‘end’ of the crisis in August 2020, it can be taken in two ways from our current perspective. There’s the more problematic side, one that treats the pandemic as over and reduces the burden of state responsibility. Indeed, if there’s a single message to be had in the film, then it’s the people who beat this crisis. Of course, as the world faces yet another wave of the virus, it might be a mildly positive reminder that every wave has its end and we still need to look out for each other.
2021 | China | DIRECTOR: Xiaolu Xue | WRITERS: Xiaolu Xue | CAST: Bo Huang, Ling Jia, Yilong Zhu | DISTRIBUTOR: China Lion (AUS/US) | RUNNING TIME: 125 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 31 December 2021 (China), 6 January 2022 (AUS), 7 January 2022 (USA)
