Description
Through raw images of cruel and unusual news items, gathered from journalists and amateur video directors, director Huang Weikai and his film Disorder take us into the chaos of a Chinese society scarred by an overwhelming urbanization. The film is made like a mosaic of singular stories restoring absurd and hopeless situations, in an urban environment where the weakest seem to be out of place. These filmed incidents are cut into short sequences and the sharpened editing draws a progressively dehumanized urban territory, where men and animals still try to survive. Quickly passing from one event to another, without any obvious link, we are then carried in the middle of a world gone mad, where individuals, including the forces of “Law and Order” seem completely overtaken by events. From that reconstruction of the real and the grotesque and hilarious as well as shocking atmosphere that comes out of it, naturally a great feeling of disorder emerges. Also, rather rapidly, a certain concern and an uncomfortable impression that these scenes could happen below our own window. If this film sometimes let us catch a glimpse of some solidarity and snatches of resistance, and thus, a little bit of hope for cities of today and tomorrow, it especially gives us the view of a talented film maker without jeopardizing any of the modern urban world’s ferocity. Indeed, the timeless black and white painting of Guangzhou, the director’s birth town, seizes our imaginary and gives to this film the aspect of a universal meditation.
