Walking in Darkness

Cars and trucks only just avoid hitting Zhou Jun. With a half-empty bottle of booze in his hand and a photo hung around his neck, he staggers towards the oncoming traffic. He’s lost his little boy, he mutters to a taxi driver who picks him up and takes him on a free night-time ride. The men may not even know where they’re going. This is the start of Walking in Darkness, a frame story told from the back seat, where Zhou Jun slowly sobers up as his flashbacks get closer to a confrontational reality. Writer and director Tang Tang, who based his film on the book A Walking Cigarette, seamlessly intertwines memories from different periods. Events from an unruly wedding are smoothly mixed with Zhou Jun’s quest for his son. And for old lovers, who disappeared mysteriously. With his fragmentary editing, Tang deliberately sets out to confuse, eventually reaching a conclusion that is both oppressive and liberating. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)