Argentine comedy draws on Shanghai traditions for a story of devotion beyond the grave
POINTS: 7
In China, there’s an old tradition that dates back to the 17th century that’s still alive and well today: to bury the bodies of the dead next to each other, as though to signify a marriage. This way, the dead are accompanied by their loved ones in the afterlife. This ceremony is called ghost marriage. And though these marriages can be legally arranged between the families, the theft and trafficking of corpses is punished with life sentences.
Previously featured at the BAFICI, Una novia de Shanghai (“A Shanghai Bride”) was shot entirely in Shanghai with Chinese crew and actors and is spoken in Mandarin. The new film by award-winning Argentine filmmaker Mauro Andrizzi (Iraqui Short Films, En el futuro, Accidentes gloriosos), takes a simple and moving tale of a so-called ghost marriage to weave a sincere meditation on the meaning of true love in today’s materialistic Chinese society. Better said, Andrizzi’s take may be geographically narrowed to China, but its resonance is actually universal.
Story-wise, it’s about two slackers who pull off tricks on the streets of Shanghai to make ends meet — including stealing wedding-rings from proud and easily distracted brides, as they pose with their grooms in outdoor photo shoots in parks and on the streets. One night, the ghost of an old man contacts them and asks for their help in exchange for a bundle of money he’s secretly hidden somewhere before he died. This ghost is in love and wants to celebrate a ghost marriage, which means the two slackers will have to dig out the corpse of the love of his life, a married woman with whom he’d had a long-lasting romance, and put it in a container to be shipped to the faraway town where the man is buried.
And so within the mould of a charming comedy, Andrizzi draws out an urban itinerary for his two protagonists — or, to be fair, three protagonists given the ghost’s voice-over that accompanies the men everywhere — to follow across the city, from the cemetery to the container. And in so doing, he also perceptively explores Shanghai with the alert eye of an eager documentary filmmaker seeking to find the pulse and rhythm of a city filled with all sorts of people, food, venues, and night clubs.
But A Shanghai Bride is not a travelogue. It’s not about sightseeing. It’s not about postcard images. It’s not about exoticism. In stark contrast, it’s about becoming a city insider who pays careful attention to traits and facets of a booming place that defies standard synopsis, a place in the world that keep reinventing itself. That’s why the atmospheric cinematography aims to reveal what glossy surfaces truly mean, in addition to going for that which is hidden, that what you can’t see at once.
However, the film’s core theme is whether love is the most important thing of all. In a contemporary and materialistic society, such a notion is bound to be risible and ridiculous. But bear in mind that the ghost of this old man belongs to an older generation, and so the truthful romance that joined him to the woman started flourishing decades ago. And though the two lovers are now dead, their everlasting love is not.
An auteur work that smoothly intertwines with genre cinema, A Shanghai Bride comes across as a surprise with its sense of discovery and its vindication of romantic ideas that have long been forgotten.
Production notes
Una novia de Shanghai (Argentina, China, 2016) Written and directed by Mauro Andrizzi. With Lorena Damonte, Jiao Jian, Hu Chen-gwei, Sun Yu-han. Cinematography: Yao Zi-long. Editing: Francisco Vázquez Murillo. Running time: 74 minutes.
@pablsuarez
