The Love of Mr. An

Lao an

(China, 2007, 84 mins)

DigiBeta (PAL)

North American Premiere

Selected Filmography:  

PRODS: Yang Lina, Isabelle Glachant
CAM/ED: Yang Lina

Romance at 89 years old is quite the thing for Lao An, a debonair, delightfully flirtatious habitué of the Temple of Heaven Park outdoor ballroom dancing corner in Beijing. He has a wife about his age who doesn't dance. She is, however, very grumpy towards his girlfriend, the fifty-something Xiao Wei, who met him at the park and has been his companion ever since. They dance very elegantly together, although Lao An is far more forward than Xiao Wei would like, especially in front of documentary maker Yang Lina's camera.

There are unsettling details: Xiao Wei has a husband who doesn't seem to mind what's going on, and there's a niggling question of how much money passes from Lao An to Xiao Wei for her attentions. At Xiao Wei's daughter's wedding, Lao An appears as a special guest, whose status is defined as "honorary grandfather" of the bride.

But when Lao An falls ill and is hospitalized (flirting up a storm with nurses a quarter of his age), the documentary takes several astonishingly narrative turns that would be melodramatic if they had been presented in a fictional context. As it is, the film raises provocative questions about intimacy: not only the way society receives intimate relationships between senior lovers, but also the proper and possible level of intimacy that Yang Lina herself can achieve with her vibrantly realized subjects.

-- Shelly Kraicer

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