Great movies are rare commodities. It is a fact that is uncomfortable to admit, particularly for those who quietly consider themselves to be connoisseurs of the medium, but the reality of the situation rings true. Between neutered blockbusters and unimaginative retellings, a loose gem may sporadically fall into our laps, but a movie that truly captivates you typically arrives once every several years; a work that reminds you why you fell in love with the art form in the first place, and the accomplishments that talented artists can create with unrestrained passion and a definitive vision. “An Elephant Sitting Still” is a phenomenal film, and without a doubt, one of those rare diamonds.
Even with a four-hour run-time, the plot of “An Elephant Sitting Still” succeeds in simplicity. After 16-year-old Wei Bu (Peng Yuchang) accidentally hospitalizes a bully, the high school student seeks to escape to the Chinese city of Manzhouli, a town that is supposedly home to an elephant who sits completely still, indifferent to the surrounding world. The aftermath of this event loops in the lives of the bully’s older brother, Yu Cheng (Zhang Yu), fellow classmate Huang Ling (Wang Yuwen), and Wang Jin (Liu Congxi), an elderly neighbor. As the day progresses, each individual is forced to confront the aspects of life that haunt them most as the overlying question of death circles above Wei Bu’s head.
Sadly, it’s impossible to discuss “An Elephant Sitting Still” without first addressing the film’s director, Hu Bo, the filmmaker and novelist who regrettably took his own life shortly after the completion of the project. Despite the ill-fated events predating the movie’s release, the artist’s death serves as a mournful precursor, and discouraging counterpart, to his debut feature.
Employing the words “melancholy” or “depressing” to describe “An Elephant Sitting Still” would not arrive anywhere within the relative proximity of the near-unbearable atmosphere that the film inflicts onto the audience. Enduring all 230 minutes of this sprawling, ethereally punishing piece of realism is a challenge that few will accept, even fewer will enjoy, and only a select handful will ever return to. Put bluntly, “An Elephant Sitting Still” is not enjoyable to watch. Despite its immaculate craftsmanship, flowing long-take camerawork (all credit goes to Fan Chao), and audacious storytelling, Hu’s debut is the definition of an acquired taste.
The film trudges along with the urgency of an intermittently spiking flatline, perfectly content with immersing you within the mundane details of day-to-day life by encapsulating the angst of youth, consequences of impulse, pains of growing old, and agony of feeling unloved. Hu molds a feature that continually holds true to its frighteningly relatable cornerstone—one that never allows for a microsecond of reprieve, but instead, seems set on locking you into its grasp to ensure its moral lessons are driven home. Even viewers well-versed in the arthouse scene and foreign film markets may find it grueling to endure this elongated dissection of human suffering.
Thematically, “An Elephant Sitting Still” is practically designed for expansive thinkpieces and forthcoming dissertations. Legacy, time, love, parenthood, the cyclical nature of violence, isolation, and loneliness only account for a portion of the surface level topics that Hu touches upon in his novelistic approach to the urban drama. Consequently, audience members are frequently confined to the claustrophobic perspectives of the film’s four protagonists’ shoulders as they silently strut down colorless alleyways with despondent expressions plastered onto their faces; every tear, wince, blink, and pained smile is captured through an obsessive use of close-ups, an element that inadvertently blurs the line between the fourth wall, but contributes to the stomach-churning hopelessness that simmers in the film’s frozen heart.
From opening shot to the bittersweet conclusion, “An Elephant Sitting Still” offers no hopeful answers, asking only increasingly desperate questions, and one cannot help but wonder if the pleadings of the four protagonists are a thinly disguised mirror of their creator’s state of mind. As each character urgently seeks to grasp some understanding of the world around them, pain greets them every time. Death stands in place of optimism, and there is scarcely a scene in which life is not portrayed as an exhausting test of unrewarding perseverance. Comparably, the world of “An Elephant Sitting Still” is referred to as a “wasteland” by its protagonists, and the austere, cluttered landscapes that Hu sculpts through his characters’ experiences and visuals match these descriptions all too well.
Yet, surprisingly, a substandard amount of depth coincides with this crushing examination of sorrow. While the performances from the lead actors suit Hu’s emotionally draining manifesto, an understanding of how these characters arrived at this point never appears. Moreover, the bloated run-time and unabridged overindulgence in repressed anguish both become taxing after wearing out their philosophical stimulation. Hu’s intentions are clear and remarkably well executed, but perpetually alienate any hint of investment. Essentially, “An Elephant Sitting Still” is a misery simulator that accomplishes its goals so well that the film seems predestined to sulk within the unfortunate borders of obscurity due to its self-imposed inaccessibility.
Regardless of its faults—admittedly, most of which augment the movie’s purpose—“An Elephant Sitting Still” falls just short of masterpiece status. To some, it will unquestionably fall into the category of films that critics love, patient audience members may enjoy, and general moviegoers will never hear about. As a divisive deep dive into the psychology of humanity in the 21st century, the movie stands above its counterparts as a jewel that requires your attention. Real-life circumstances notwithstanding, Hu’s opus exemplifies the work of a genius who was taken too soon. As a simultaneous introduction and farewell, “An Elephant Sitting Still” might be one of the best movies that you will only watch once, but won’t ever completely leave your mind. [A]
