THE WILD GOOSE LAKE

At night at a train station in Wuhan, Zhou Zenong (Hu Ge) waits for his wife. Instead comes Liu Aiai, a woman who works for his boss, and of whom he does not know whether she means to save him or hand him over. Zhou runs a ring of motorbike thieves; his rivals want his territory, the conflict escalates into a gang war, and while fleeing he accidentally shoots a policeman. Now there is a bounty on him, dead or alive, and Zhou goes into hiding around Wild Goose Lake, a maze of lakes, holiday huts and neon light on the edge of the city. “The Wild Goose Lake” (China, 2019) by Diao Yinan follows him through one night and its prehistory.

Diao tells the story in the mode of neo-noir: rain, shadows, a gangster who knows he is lost, and a woman with an unclear assignment. At the same time the film shows a China at the margins that official cinema does not put on screen. The world premiere took place in competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2019. “The Wild Goose Lake” was shown at Around the World in 14 Films in Berlin in 2019.

Shown at the 2019 edition of Around the World in 14 Films.

All films 2019 · Film Archive