An Elephant Sitting Still

Name: An Elephant Sitting Still
Genre: Drama
Released: March 8, 2019
Duration: 230 min
Rating: 86
Cast: Congxi Li, Jing Guo, Miaomiao He, Uvin Wang, Wei Kong

2019

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Universal acclaim based on 16 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 18 Ratings

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8.2

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8.2	User Score Universal acclaim based on 18 Ratings

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An Elephant Sitting Still

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Movie Details & Credits

Kimstim Films | Release Date: March 8, 2019 | Not Rated

Starring: Congxi Li, Jing Guo, Miaomiao He, Uvin Wang, Wei Kong, Xiang Rong Dong, Ximan Huang, Yu Zhang, Yuchang Peng, Zhao-Yan Guo-Zhang

Movie Facts:

Winner of Best First Feature at the 2018 Berlin Film Festival.

Summary: Under the gloomy sky of a small town in northern China, different protagonists’ lives are intertwined in this furious tale of nihilistic rage. While protecting his friend from a dangerous school bully, 16-year-old Wei Bu pushes the tormentor down a staircase. Wei escapes the scene and later learns that the bully is hospitalized and gravelyUnder the gloomy sky of a small town in northern China, different protagonists’ lives are intertwined in this furious tale of nihilistic rage. While protecting his friend from a dangerous school bully, 16-year-old Wei Bu pushes the tormentor down a staircase. Wei escapes the scene and later learns that the bully is hospitalized and gravely injured. Wei’s neighbor, the 60-year-old Wang Jin, is estranged from his family and, with nothing to lose, decides to join him. Later the pair is joined by Huang Ling, Wei’s classmate. She is bedeviled by a destructive affair with a married school official. Together, this unlikely and desperate trio, decide their only hope is to flee as the bully’s gangster brother, enraged parents and vindictive school authorities all go on a cold-blooded hunt for Wei across town. As Wei threads his way through the urban wilderness, he begins to come to terms with his own lost life. In the end, he boards a long-distance bus with Huang and Wang toward a city in Manchuria, where it is rumored that a circus elephant is said to be sitting still, seeming oblivious to the pain and tribulations of the world at large.… Expand

Director: Bo Hu

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 230 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Richard Brody

May 7, 2019

Its mighty ambition and mighty power are suggested by its unusual length (it runs nearly four hours) and its distinctive, original style and tone. Yet it’s rooted in a familiar kind of story, a tale of the sort that lesser filmmakers could easily dramatize in familiar ways but which Hu expanded into a vision of life. Read full review

100

Justin Chang

Mar 22, 2019

One of the reasons An Elephant Sitting Still is so absorbing is that it has the advantage of duration, a willingness to linger in moments of silence and stillness. Paradoxically, as a result, it moves far more swiftly than you might expect. Read full review

IndieWire David Ehrlich

Mar 8, 2019

Hard to sit through and impossible to forget, this torpid four-hour anti-drama is suffused with the sort of hopelessness that cinema only sees every once in a long while . Read full review

RogerEbert.com Justine Smith

Mar 8, 2019

Yet, love and beauty remain a constant source of minute, if not fleeting, pleasure. It is not a cure-all in the way it would be in a Disney princess fantasy, but it is enough to sustain existence in spite of its high risk and low reward ratio. Read full review

Clarence Tsui

Feb 20, 2019

Admittedly, Elephant is a heavy affair, but it’s not all doom and gloom. Hu's characters remain very real, and they are never shown as indulgent to the point of being above the banalities of everyday life. Barbed humor abounds, too, in matter-of-fact dialogue. Read full review

The Guardian Phil Hoad

Feb 20, 2019

Hu provides no easy resolutions, and evidently found none himself. This epic of futility will have to stand as an epitaph for an extremely promising career cut short. Read full review

Mike D'Angelo

Mar 5, 2019

Still, the respectful thing to do, it seems, is to treat An Elephant Sitting Still like any other film, imagining how it would look were Hu already hard at work on his next project. A lot depends on just how much sustained misery one likes to endure. Read full review

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User Reviews

marinosCyprus

Jan 22, 2020

This is a masterpiece of a movie and it has to be viewed in a cinema to be felt completely. It may be depressing and not very easy to watch but once you watch it, it will hunt you for months to come.
Nothing more to say as this is a movie that belongs to a category of its own

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Plastics

Oct 19, 2019

A big great tale of loneliness. A tour-de-force direction of a debut movie and a story that will stay with you for a long time.

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AncientAmber

Dec 10, 2019

I watched this film a couple months ago. I probably couldn't tell you the plot other than some scenes and images and a rough outline. What I can tell you is that the film leaves has a weight and presence that lingers a long time after it ends. There are only a handful of films that I thinkI watched this film a couple months ago. I probably couldn't tell you the plot other than some scenes and images and a rough outline. What I can tell you is that the film leaves has a weight and presence that lingers a long time after it ends. There are only a handful of films that I think have a truly unique feel and tone and communicate an emotion that words alone never could (Lost in Translation comes to mind), this film is such a one.

If I had to try, I would say that Elephant is a distillation of depression, with a few things added. One such thing is a an element of disgust, I'm not sure with what, perhaps the state, or perhaps the soulless grey urbanisation that is almost a character in itself. While watching the film I felt as though the director were trying to show me something (I didn't know he'd died at this point), perhaps his own vision of life in general, or perhaps a vision of certain areas of China, perhaps both. If it were a simple thing he was trying to say he would have said it; if you want to understand, you must watch the film.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

Ananisapta

Jan 26, 2020

My wife walked out of this grim film after the first half-hour. I stayed to the end and was not sorry. It's NOT entertainment... more a slice of life.

The lives portrayed are not those we should emulate. Most of the film concerns the lowest rungs of the social ladder: people not favored byMy wife walked out of this grim film after the first half-hour. I stayed to the end and was not sorry. It's NOT entertainment... more a slice of life.

The lives portrayed are not those we should emulate. Most of the film concerns the lowest rungs of the social ladder: people not favored by nature or by nurture. Their backdrop is a bleak industrial landscape that Americans would call "Rust Belt". Their plans often go awry in catastrophic ways. Their relationships seem to impoverish rather than uplift them. Their language, as far as I can understand it, is simple mutterings with indistinct pronunciation and little melody. It's no wonder the director killed himself soon after finishing this film.

So why did I give this big downer a nine on a scale of ten? There is art that entertains us -- America seems to have entirely too much entertainment, to the point that entertainers' opinions are taken too seriously and some are even elected to high office. Then there is art that shows us the realities that we may not be seeing because they are too distant geographically or psycho-socially. This is one of those films. It splendidly reveals one side of modern life in China, a side that has echoes in our own past and present. This is a picture of the Americans who die from Fentanyl overdose (a drug largely supplied by China, btw). It explains why some people would rather vote for a change -- any change -- rather than continuation of the status quo, and will forgive any amount of chicanery if it makes life better on the margins.

In this crucial moment of history, when Asia and possibly the wider world are threatened with a catastrophic corona-virus pandemic that could decimate China's economy and its population (if not the world's), An Elephant Sitting Still is a poignant look at those who will surely be first to die. Mean and backwards as they seem, they should not be forgotten.… Expand

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DawdlingPoet

Nov 20, 2021

This is very much a film about despair - about living in dark, mundane circumstances and you could say there's an element of 'keeping calm and carrying on', or whatever the Chinese equivalent of that motto is. I suppose you could argue there's an element of fate about it or inevitability butThis is very much a film about despair - about living in dark, mundane circumstances and you could say there's an element of 'keeping calm and carrying on', or whatever the Chinese equivalent of that motto is. I suppose you could argue there's an element of fate about it or inevitability but then people may complain that it's too simplistic to say that. I'll let the viewer come to their own conclusion - in any case, its certainly a thoughtful film, with quite good use of camerawork, to pan around the various characters, show how downtrodden their existence is and it's easy enough to imagine how disheartening it must be for them to be in that place, mentally, physically and emotionally I suppose.

The vitriol some people show towards others did seem, on one hand, believable and also, for me it was obviously quite frustrating and saddening, for obvious reasons. It's in this sense that it is certainly a thought-provoking watch.

Speaking of camerawork, I did feel there was quite a distinct sort of floaty feel or atmosphere to this film, with the viewer apparently observing the characters from multiple angles, while also glancing around at the surrounding area. Its a thought-provoking, sad (also just to note there is one scene featuring a dog being attacked and we are briefly shown a somewhat bloodied dog afterwards, which could be quite upsetting for some) but a memorable film that's well worth a watch, as long as you know it's not going to be very cheery but otherwise, I would recommend this film, yes.… Expand

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Mahmus

Sep 25, 2020

Really great and very depressing.
It might be slow, but not boring. Plus, when it picks up, it really picks up. It's beautifuly directed and it's hard to take your eyes away from it.
I love the atmosphere of this film. It all feels wierdly familiar. I can feel the cold air. I can smell theReally great and very depressing.
It might be slow, but not boring. Plus, when it picks up, it really picks up. It's beautifuly directed and it's hard to take your eyes away from it.

I love the atmosphere of this film. It all feels wierdly familiar. I can feel the cold air. I can smell the environment. The closing scenes in particular I think will evoke an odd sense of nostalgia in a lot of people. The fact that almost every scene is shot in long takes makes it even more immersive.

It can drag quite a bit at times. With a runtine of almost four hours and a pace so slow it would make Andrei Tarkovsky jealous, it was always going to drag, but it never stops being completely entrancing and heartbreaking.

This is a must-watch.… Expand

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amheretojudge

Oct 2, 2019

When it finally sets free, sets apart, sets loose, the sweet fragrant floods in, inside you, washing away your anxiety.

An Elephant Sitting Still Bo Hu, the writer and director, whose first project, this project, is an almost four hour long achievement. Now, usually, it is advised to shootWhen it finally sets free, sets apart, sets loose, the sweet fragrant floods in, inside you, washing away your anxiety.

An Elephant Sitting Still

Bo Hu, the writer and director, whose first project, this project, is an almost four hour long achievement. Now, usually, it is advised to shoot something, some short film or a video before taking on a big project like this. And he has previously worked behind the camera. But even if he hadn't, this journey of making a film like such would have taught him well. Joking aside, the film never gets to that weak point. It doesn't have any. In fact there isn't a loose thread for you to follow up to that alpha material. You can't deconstruct the engineering of this film.

The film starts from an ambiguous lost point following an equally oblivious character in each scenario. Capturing a day of these fellows' lives, the film is difficult to watch for two reasons. Don't worry they are deliberately installed to speak more expressively. First, are the characters. Each character that we come across with, is always the by product of its miserable fate. As in, it is never in control of what is to happen to him or her. Either someone knows and is keeping its mouth shut than someone can't control it.

And if some can control it, it doesn't have the authority to and if someone has the authority to, then it itself is lost, misdirected and misinterpreted. Second, the cinematography. If we are following four lives in An Elephant Sitting Still, we are literally doing that. The camera doesn't leave them at any cost. The result is a close up shots of these various incidents captured through their expressions, performances. You feel congested. You aren't able to breathe. Horrible things go down and the emotion adds more trouble for the audience. Neither meltdowns nor reserved nature gives us a shoulder to hang on to.… Expand

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