Chinese film 'Wild Goose Lake' competes for Palme d'Or

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Chinese director Diao Yinan’s latest film noir, the "Wild Goose Lake," is vying for the Palme d’Or, the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival.

The film debuted on May 18 at the Festival and was screened four times before May 19. It is also the only Chinese film selected in the festival's main competition field, with the winner due to be announced on May 25.

Starring renowned actor Hu Ge, actress Gwei Lun-Mei, Wan Qian, and Silver Bear-winning actor Liao Fan, the film tells a story about how a thief struggles and seeks redemption when chased by police. The film was based and inspired by a true story.

(L-R) Liao Fan, Gwei Lun-Mei, Diao Yinan, Hu Ge and Wam Qian attend the photocall for "The Wild Goose Lake" during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, May 19, 2019. /VCG Photo

The film noir, artistic vision and Chinese value

In the film, the major gangster on the run, Zhou Zenong (played by Hu Ge), is quiet but powerful. Liu Aiai (played by Gwei Lun-Mei) is a prostitute who was tasked to contact Zhou and bring him to the fellow mobsters. The two leading roles, as the director put it, are "two lonely souls under big pressure."

Through the storytelling, the film adds an art-house style to its dark crime type. The dim, dingy hotel basement, the swinging light bulb, the disturbing quarrels, the gun fight; those stressful elements are fused with plainer scenarios like people dancing at a leisure square in a numb and casual way, thus creating a proper tempo.

A still of the film "Wild Goose Lake." /Photo via Douban.com

Diao said the environment in the film is a terrifying, unsettled heterotopia rather than utopia, "I think in everybody's heart, there is a heterotopia like this. This is also a reflection of my heart.

"The landscapes in the film are very real, and are also based on a true story. Maybe because it's not about metropolitan life, a large audience would feel it's far from their lives.

"But the story expresses very traditional values: Morality and justice. In the modern society, the theme should be highlighted to the highest extent in history."

A local take

This is not the first time that the director, Diao, is screening an entry at a world-class film festival. In 2014, his crime drama film “Black Coal, Thin Ice” won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlinale. Liao Fan, who also played the leading role then in that film, became the first Chinese to win the Silver Bear for Best Actor.

A still of the "Wild Goose Lake" featuring Liao Fan, who plays a policeman. /Photo via Douban.com

Unlike the Berlinale-winning masterpiece which was set in China's northeastern city of Harbin, "Wild Goose Lake" moves to Wuhan, the capital of central Hubei Province. According to the director, the story is set in a place with many lakes, and Wuhan's natural environment meets the need.

To make the performance better fitting the local environment, the cast was enrolled in advance to study Wuhan dialect, and they also get to know more about the work of the characters they play. Liao Fan, who played a policeman in the film, went to the local police team and learnt their professional tone and terms.

A still of the film "Wild Goose Lake" featuring Hu Ge. /Photo via Douban.com

It is also the first time that Hu Ge, a veteran actor in a TV series, has played a leading role in a film. When describing the experience, he used the word "perturbed."

"I didn't know if I performed well today or not. I feared at the beginning, and also worried, but later I found this feeling was close to the character. It was what the character needs."

(Cover: A still of the film "Wild Goose Lake." /Photo via Douban.com)