We are inside a spartan house, at mealtime. The camera overlooks the central fireplace, the light illuminates the faces gathered around it. A little to the side, other groups are standing around, but it is not clear whether they have already eaten or whether their turn will come later. Nevertheless, it is around this activity that the life of a small society is temporarily organised: the faces illuminated by the light of the fireplace, like the conversations of the men on the sidelines, are oriented around the "feast".
This documentary scene is evocative of a specific cultural context: meals are very important in China, including, as in this case, among the poorest. Here the accumulation of different dishes, their great variety, testifies to this and gives an impression of profusion. The tasting of the meal calls forth, beyond taste, all the sensations: in spite of the ambient hubbub, in which all the conversations cross, one distinctly hears the comments and criticisms, sometimes not very friendly for the cook. It is soon overlaid by the sound of frying, the crackling of the meat being thrown into the central pot. The smoke from the hot dishes brought in as they are served comes across the screen and warms up the participants who are huddled together. Like olfactory sensations, taste is both difficult to describe and difficult to show in film: only comments and possibly an actor's performance can make up for it. There are no actors in this documentary film by director Wang Bing, who films the daily life of three young girls in an isolated mountain village at an altitude of 3000 metres. However, we see in the sequence that if the meal is a collective affair, taste is a personal matter: each guest picks from the dishes what they desire and then adds a sauce to the pieces dipped in an individual bowl of rice. At the end of the sequence, the camera shows us the face of a girl and those sat beside her: her face seems impassive, emotionless and concentrated as she brings the food to her mouth. The rhythms play against each other, from the rhythm of the chopsticks, the bowl of rice greedily gobbled up by the boy, the sound of tongues clicking and glistening in the darkness, revealing beyond the potential pleasures of food, the vital and crucial character of this shared meal which, in a precarious universe, offers a fragile appearance of abundance. From the crowd gathered in the house, an evocative "Move over!" is heard as people try to find their place and get access to the food.
Comment
We are inside a spartan house, at mealtime. The camera overlooks the central fireplace, the light illuminates the faces gathered around it. A little to the side, other groups are standing around, but it is not clear whether they have already eaten or whether their turn will come later. Nevertheless, it is around this activity that the life of a small society is temporarily organised: the faces illuminated by the light of the fireplace, like the conversations of the men on the sidelines, are oriented around the "feast".
This documentary scene is evocative of a specific cultural context: meals are very important in China, including, as in this case, among the poorest. Here the accumulation of different dishes, their great variety, testifies to this and gives an impression of profusion. The tasting of the meal calls forth, beyond taste, all the sensations: in spite of the ambient hubbub, in which all the conversations cross, one distinctly hears the comments and criticisms, sometimes not very friendly for the cook. It is soon overlaid by the sound of frying, the crackling of the meat being thrown into the central pot. The smoke from the hot dishes brought in as they are served comes across the screen and warms up the participants who are huddled together. Like olfactory sensations, taste is both difficult to describe and difficult to show in film: only comments and possibly an actor's performance can make up for it. There are no actors in this documentary film by director Wang Bing, who films the daily life of three young girls in an isolated mountain village at an altitude of 3000 metres. However, we see in the sequence that if the meal is a collective affair, taste is a personal matter: each guest picks from the dishes what they desire and then adds a sauce to the pieces dipped in an individual bowl of rice. At the end of the sequence, the camera shows us the face of a girl and those sat beside her: her face seems impassive, emotionless and concentrated as she brings the food to her mouth. The rhythms play against each other, from the rhythm of the chopsticks, the bowl of rice greedily gobbled up by the boy, the sound of tongues clicking and glistening in the darkness, revealing beyond the potential pleasures of food, the vital and crucial character of this shared meal which, in a precarious universe, offers a fragile appearance of abundance. From the crowd gathered in the house, an evocative "Move over!" is heard as people try to find their place and get access to the food.