Free and Easy

轻松+愉快

China, 2016, colour, 2.35:1, 98 mins.

Director: Geng Jun 耿军.

Rating: 4/10.

Phlegmatic black comedy set in bleak northeast China gradually runs out of both steam and originality.

STORY

A desolate, semi-abandoned town in northeast China, the present day, winter. A man (Xu Gang) walks around the deserted backstreets banging a gong. Zhang Zhiyong (Zhang Zhiyong), who calls himself a soap salesman, is approached by a young martial artist (Chen Xi) who is distributing flyers for a gym. Zhang Zhiyong gives him a bar of soap to sniff, the young man passes out, and Zhang Zhiyong steals his money, mobile phone and watch, leaving two lit cigarettes between his fingers to wake him up. The young man later confronts Zhang Zhiyong but the latter brandishes a gun. The young man meets a Buddhist monk (Xu Gang), who says he is homeless after his temple burned down and who tries to sell him blessings; but the young man refuses. Zhang Zhiyong rents a room in the house of a young woman, Chen Jing (Wang Xuxu), and discovers she has a husband, Xue Baohe (Xue Baohe), who is in charge of reforestation in the area and is tormented by having one of his trees stolen. Meanwhile, the young man reports what happened to the police but the latter aren’t interested. Zhang Zhiyong successfully tries the same con on two men (Geng Jun, Liu Yongdong); however, a third, an idiot Christian evangelist, doesn’t pass out as he has a cold. The evangelist’s mother has disappeared and he’s flyposting the backstreets; he rescues the Buddhist monk who’s fallen for Zhang Zhiyong’s soap con, and the two have a meal together. As the two policeman investigate a bar of soap they’ve found, the Buddhist monk confesses to the Christian evangelist that he isn’t really a monk but a professional con man like Zhang Zhiyong. Soon afterwards, the “monk” and the “salesman” are themselves conned by an old lady (Chen Maolian) and her sons (Niu Zhiguo, Tan Bo). As a result, they become friends as Zhang Xun (Zhang Xun), one of the policemen, gradually closes in on Zhang Zhiyong during his investigation.

REVIEW

A phlegmatic black comedy set in a semi-abandoned industrial town in bleak northeast China, Free and Easy 轻松+愉快 is a precision-tooled piece of indie cinema that simply runs out of steam (and originality) halfway through. Directed and co-written by Geng Jun 耿军, a native of the region who started making films in 2002, including the features Barbecue 烧烤 (2004) and Youth 青年 (2009) as well as shorts, it was his best known film – in specialist circles – until his latest release, Manchurian Tiger 东北虎 (2021), which is very similar in style and humour but with name actors attached (Zhang Yu 章宇, Ma Li 马丽). At an hour rather than almost 100 minutes, Free and Easy would be much more successful; Geng clearly has a film-making vision but needs producers who won’t indulge or encourage him.

Geng, aka Geng Jinfa 耿金发, was born in Heilongjiang province, northeast China, in Feb 1976 and has worked regularly with actors like Xu Gang 徐刚, Zhang Zhiyong 张志勇 and Xue Baohe 薛宝鹤 on films which are absolutely typical of the region’s mordant humour. Free and Easy, whose Chinese title translates as “Relaxed + Cheerful”, presents an almost alternative universe, a decaying, seemingly empty town which seems a magnet for conmen and robbers. One poses as a salesman for a soap that has a (literally) knockout scent, another as a homeless monk, while other characters wander around in various states of mental distress and the two local policeman are idle-cum-incompetent. With lines delivered unsmilingly, and with long pauses between, it’s initially amusing – a kind of dour, typically northern, Chinese comedy of the absurd.

However, that’s hardly new in Mainland cinema and, as the film progresses with Geng & Co. basically just reshuffling their pack of characters, it gradually becomes clear that Free and Easy is also a one-joke movie. The droll, straightfaced performances are fine, and the neatly composed widescreen images by the largely static camera of Wang Weihua 王维华 (who shot Geng’s 2013 short The Hammer and Sickle Are Sleeping 锤子镰刀都休息, as well as other specialised fare like Knife in the Clear Water 清水里的刀子, 2016) show care and consideration. Editing, too, is not teeth-grindingly slow. But after 50 minutes or so it all starts to look simply mannered for its own sake, with nothing new brought to the table and no sense of overall pacing; and the weak third act strains for effect without repaying the audience’s patience. Music by Beijing rock band Second Hand Rose 二手玫瑰 (Mr. & Mrs. Incredible 神奇侠侣, 2011) is sparingly used, though effective in delivering some more weirdness.

For the record, all of the film’s credits are in traditional, not simplified, Chinese and no production company is credited – presumably to pass it off as a Hong Kong production at international festivals.

CREDITS

Produced by Blackfin (Beijing) Production (CN).

Script: Liu Bing, Feng Yuhua, Geng Jun. Photography: Wang Weihua. Editing: Guo Xiaodong, Zhong Yijuan. Music: Second Hand Rose. Music direction: Liang Long. Art direction: Wang Weihua, Geng Jun. Costumes: Tang Xiaoshan. Sound: Du Chunfeng, Lou Kun.

Cast: Xu Gang (Buddhist monk; man beating gong), Zhang Zhiyong (Zhang Zhiyong, soap salesman), Xue Baohe (Xue Baohe, Chen Jing’s husband), Zhang Xun (Zhang Xun, policeman with moustache), Gu Benbin (Christian evangelist), Wang Xuxu (Chen Jing), Yuan Liguo (second policeman), Chen Xi (young martial artist), Chen Maolian (old lady), Niu Zhiguo, Tan Bo (old lady’s sons), Geng Jun, Liu Yongdong (fraud victims), Liu Zhennian (robbery victim).

Premiere: Ullens Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing, 5 Nov 2016.

Release: China, tba.