The Calming (Song Fang, 2020) (Patreon)

This one is getting roundly panned by the NYFFers, and I can understand why. "Tasteful" is being thrown around as a pejorative, and there is indeed a strange despondency to Song's film, like it isn't certain what sort of spell it wants to cast but knows that whatever it is, it doesn't want to break it. After awhile, I felt like I understood The Calming a bit better though, and perhaps by it may be such an unnerving film for this particular moment.

This is a movie about depression. Lin (Qi Xi) has just broken up with a long-term boyfriend, and she is going through the motions of a promotional trip for her latest film. Thing is, in 2020 it is odd to watch someone so downcast while being able to move around the world. Most of us feel much like Lin, but are cooped up at home. So the endless shots of Lin gazing out of train windows, wandering through parks, looking pensively up at the sky, probably don't land the way Song expected. And, since viewers seem to be taking the character to be Song's onscreen avatar (not quite sure what authorizes this, but okay), Lin's soulful stare seems a bit... I don't know, intrusive? It's as if Song were holding up cue cards, informing us of exactly how her film is supposed to be watched. Still, if it was meditative she wanted, meditative she got.