A noteworthy homage to 1’s lineage.
Final 12 months, two animated documentaries kicked off the competition 12 months: Jonas Poher-Rahmussen’s “Flee” at Sundance, and Lei Lei’s “Silver Chicken and Rainbow Fish” (2022) every week later, at Rotterdam. It’s laborious to inform why precisely “Silver Chicken and Rainbow Fish” pale to the background a lot, nevertheless. Maybe it was the linear storytelling of “Flee”; maybe it was the timeliness of an Afghan refugee narrative; or, maybe, it was just because Sundance occurred to premiere their work one week sooner than Rotterdam. Both approach, “Silver Chicken” has been quietly making its approach across the movie competition circuit since. After a collection of premieres at animation festivals like Annecy and Ottawa, Lei Lei’s newest function movie touched down at Seoul’s Indie-Anifest final month, the place it gained the Jury Particular Prize.
“Silver Chicken and Rainbow Fish” develops as an inquiry into Lei Lei’s circle of relatives historical past. Right here, by a collection of audio interviews, Lei Lei’s father Jiaqi and grandfather Lei Ting recount their experiences from The Nice Leap Ahead (1958-62) by to the Cultural Revolution (1966-76). The story begins with 1959 China. Upon the demise of Lei Lei’s grandmother and Lei Ting’s task to the fields through the Nice Leap Ahead, Jiaqi and second-oldest sister stay at an orphanage whereas the eldest research at an airforce academy in Nanding. From there, his lineage marks milestones, huge and small. From easy pleasures like going to the films, to ideological initiatives like political re-education camp, the movie follows the tales of a single household residing by historical past – laughter, heartache, and all.
All through the movie, Lei Ting and Jiaqi stay notably reticent about their political beliefs. As an alternative, they course of the earthshaking occasions earlier than them with a dose of fine humor and a familial heat. In response, Lei Lei matches his animation fashion to the tone of their narrative. He locations colourful daubs of clay-shaped faces over pictures, as if preserving the anonymity of his household line; he juxtaposes strips of coloured paper with the black-and-white newspaper archives. To fill within the blanks, he permits us to peek into his course of, as he presses, smushes, and stretches his clay recreations of lived folks on-screen. In so doing, Lei Lei frequently reminds us of the stark variations of the current whereas his interviews ruminate upon the previous.
As animated documentaries go, “Silver Chicken and Rainbow Fish” falls extra on the experimental aspect. That is reminiscent, as revealed within the Q&A of the competition, of his earlier entry to the competition, “Books on Books” (2016). On this quick fllm – additionally an ode to his father, who collects Western books and magazines – geometric paper cutouts flash and rotate in cease movement, spiraling throughout the display amid a rapidfire portrayal of luxurious e-book covers. Nonetheless, whereas “Books on Books” dances to the tinkle of a cosmic soundscape, “Silver Chicken and Rainbow Fish” stays extra trustworthy to the crackle of a mutter, the grumble of building. The problem to completely seize a reminiscence stays ever-present all through Lei Lei’s work.
All in all, Lei Lei’s function debut is definitely a gorgeous watch. Nonetheless, for many who could also be much less well-versed in experimental animation, “Silver Chicken and Rainbow Fish” could show – regardless of its linear chronology – to be an enticing one. Lei Lei intentionally avoids outlining the stakes, sidestepping potential penalties and as an alternative permits the occasions of the previous to clean over the viewer. For a brief, this makes for a beautiful aesthetic, however – for 104 minutes, one’s consideration is vulnerable to ebb and move. Altogether, nevertheless, “Silver Chicken and Rainbow Fish” is definitely a noteworthy homage to 1’s lineage.
