“I don’t want to owe people money,” are the words defeatedly uttered by Lynn (Yao Honggui), the protagonist of “Stonewalling,” the forthcoming film from the Beijing-based husband-and-wife team, Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka. The film, focusing on Lynn’s life for a year, finds her at a crossroads: in the midst of her college education and has been training for a career as a flight attendant, everything is overtaken by doubt and disarray when Lynn discovers that she’s pregnant. Her boyfriend is cold and distant, deciding to party instead of taking responsibility for the child-to-be, so Lynn forgoes telling her that she will not get an abortion. Instead, she’ll give the baby away. All of this is set against the backdrop of contemporary China, one of the major economic, political, and cultural centers of the 21st century, yet a country that has also had to deal with stalling birthrates and economic and social turmoil amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
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“Stonewalling” is the third in a trilogy from Ji and Otsuka, with the two other films being “The Foolish Bird” and “Egg and Stone.” Having long been banned in China, “The Foolish Bird” and “Egg and Stone” are set to have their long-awaited release in the United States later this year. The release of these two older films and “Stonewalling” coming off several high-profile festival appearances, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, and the Venice Film Festival, amongst others, means that 2023 should be a momentous year for Ji, Otsuka, and Honggui, who has starred in all three films in the trilogy.
“Stonewalling” opens March 10 in New York courtesy of KimStim.
