Watching "Crossing the Mountain:" Crossing the Boundaries of Film-Watching

Beijing's Broadway Cinematheque MOMA is being put to full use: it is regularly screening a truly experimental feature film called "Crossing the Mountain," directed by Yang Rui.

Starting on May 15, the film was set for 100 screenings at the same place.

And amid yawns and a few snores from a tired audience at the premiere, I found the film to be a potential gem that can be very hard to appreciate.

Well, to be honest, I fell asleep too, some 30 minutes into the film.

And I was woken up by this…

Had I known there would be even more annoying sounds to come, such as the sound of a boy sawing a TV set and the painful grunting of a pig, I would have given up on any further attempts to sleep at all.

So it was very interesting to learn that the director, Yang Rui, had spent half a year working with her crew to improve the soundtrack.

"The film you just saw is rid of explicit expressions of emotions, and there are not a lot of movements to see. That's why my sound team spent half a year on retouching the soundtrack. We wanted to go against the norm, and present a film that communicates with viewers mainly through sounds, not moving images."

But speeches are also sounds, and for some reason that was beyond me, some of the conversations in the film are not accompanied by subtitles.

That's a big problem for most viewers, as more than 95 percent of the dialogue is in the language of the ethnic Wa people.

It seems the director believes the images and ambient sounds alone can convey all she needs the audience to know.

"We were constantly editing the footage. The current one is our 72nd edition. At the 40th edition, we still had a clear storyline. And then, after a succession of screenings in Berlin, I was tired of watching it. So I began to edit again, this time, without a storyline. I was thinking, why do we have to see a story out of a film? Life is largely uneventful, especially on the superficial level. The drama always lies underneath. So I chose to present the stillness of life."

But even when the original film did have a storyline, the response from the audience at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival's forum was mixed, according to the director.

A boy riding a motorcycle alone; a boy riding the same motorcycle but taking two girls with him; the girls chasing each other in a rice paddy; a pig being castrated; old men and women group dancing in a park... the film pulls together these seemingly random shots, creating a mystic combination.

Some shots are really long, lasting several minutes, and many viewers may stray into dreamland while watching these drawn-out scenes.

Although most of the viewers had the determination and good will to see the film through, they did raise some harsh questions.

One of them was, if you had the chance to redo it, what would you do differently?

"I would do longer shots, for sure. I know some would say the shots are too long, but I think they're too short. I wish I had longer shots, as long shots create a serene feeling which I need for the film."

Yes, longer shots - even if that would mean more yawns from the audience.

But she may not have the time or money to redo it anyway.

Shooting and production took four long and hard years, and the director had to constantly seek more funding to keep the cameras rolling.

The director says she was heavily influenced by philosophical films from Western countries, which inspired her to make something similar.

So during the Q&A session, she declined a girl's request that she pinpoint a single most important scene; instead, she called on the audience to use their imagination and work out their very own interpretations of the film.

On the popular social networking website "Douban," where professionals and laymen freely exchange their opinions on books, music and films, "Crossing the Mountain" scored a mild 6.3 on a 0-to-10 scale.

But that number hardly reflects the stark clashes between wildly differing commentators.

Some say the film is a failure, and that the director keeps talking about serenity and inner feelings just to disguise the fact that she couldn't come up with a compelling story.

Others applaud the director's courage in breaking away from the conventional, and claim that they can respond on a deep level to what the director has to say.

A netizen named "Superhero" even gives a summary of the film's scenario, starting with a love triangle involving the motorcycle-riding boy and the two sisters, and ending with the boy trying to reach the younger sister's room by crossing the mountain.

But apparently, no one will ever know what the story is supposed to be, or if there is any story.

In the end, that creates the suspense in the film.

Yang Rui, the director, admits that she has tried to create a new way of making and viewing films.

"I think films in the future will be all about bringing new sensory experiences to the audience. What I mean is, the future film viewers will open up their senses to embrace the experiences to be brought about by the films they watch. The film in the future will be just like a stranger to its audience, and through communications and miscommunications with the stranger, it challenges their established world views."

She hopes that "Crossing the Mountain" will complete its mission of 100 screenings in a year's time.

And when that mission is finished, the director says, the audience may have a different understanding of both the film and their lives.

She says that change in the audience is what she and her crew look forward to.