Tokyo: Following up his well-received 2021 feature A New Old Play, Sichuan-reared Chinese writer-director Qiu Jiongjiong continues to deploy heightened artifice and quasi-theatrical mannerisms with his eccentric but addictive latest, Fuxi: Four Tales of Feasting.
Although Fuxi runs a trim 135 minutes compared to A New Old Play‘s three-hour runtime, Qiu still manages to cover more than 2,000 years of myth, history and mythic history with a quartet of stories revolving around special meals and banquets. The word “fuxi,” intertitles helpfully explain, can either be a noun meaning delicious food or a verb signifying the savoring of such delicacies .
A Framing Device of Sun and Moon
The different segments, each offering varying mixtures of slapstick comedy and memento mori solemnity, don’t have much to do with one another story-wise. So Qiu pulls it all together with a framing device about a film crew making each segment, the tales linked by the presence of the sun or Sol (Wen Ke) and Luna aka the moon (Xiao Luxi) — both actors rocking massive sun- and moon-shaped headpieces .
Yes, the whole thing is just as bizarre as it sounds, but Qiu’s relentless visual brio keeps the soufflé aloft while the serious intent adds a complex, umami aftertaste with a hint of the tingly, numbing flavor so distinctive in Sichuan cuisine .
The Four Tales
The first minutes kick off with slightly baffling comic business featuring Sol and Luna interacting with the film crew. We soon settle into the first chapter, set “long ago,” when our ancestors were simian-sort of hominids with long tails they believed were “sacred fuxi to be offered at life’s most solemn moments.” By offered, the film means eaten — as is the case with the tail of one aged granny played by veteran Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-Sheng, a frequent collaborator with auteur Tsai Ming-liang. As granny lays dying, her tail is cut off, butchered into chunks like oxtail, stewed and served to the community — a dish that looks pretty tasty if you don’t mind the self-cannibalism .
The second chapter is set in early agrarianism, wherein King Wang, Sichuan’s fourth king, has abdicated the throne and turned into a cuckoo but still flies home to enjoy some tasty fuxi prepared for him annually. Props are due to Fan Guang Yao as Wang for the solemnity he manages to muster while wearing giant fake wings and a massive wig of white hair .
Ultimately, the third and fourth chapters have the most heft dramatically, making the earlier proceedings feel like pleasant forgettable amuses bouche. The third chapter, set in China’s medieval period, features a quartet of fantastical creatures gathering to remember the life of poet and gastronome Su Dongpo (Lee Hong-Chi), a man of many talents whose honesty frequently got him into trouble with the powers that be, resulting in several periods of exile .
Sichuan Dialect and Cultural Specificity
Much of the dialogue is reportedly in the Sichuan dialect — specifically the Leshan dialect, per Variety — a nuance native speakers are likely to appreciate more than international viewers who caught the film at the Tokyo Film Festival, where it premiered in competition. Nevertheless, the performances and English-language subtitles succeed in getting across the mix of high and low cultures on display, as each chapter throws together peasants and aristocrats, ordinary folk and fantastic beings, actors and filmmakers in a giddy muddle. The effect is a little reminiscent of commedia dell’arte with all that breaking-of-the-fourth-wall stuff, especially since the mise en scene is so archly theatrical .
The Verdict
The film’s bottom line, as THR’s review puts it: “Spicy and addictive, if not easily digestible.”
Fuxi: Four Tales of Feasting premiered in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival. The cast includes Lee Kang Sheng, Lee Hong-Chi, Annie Chen, Fan Guang Yao, Wang Talu, Wang Yitong, Xue Xuchun, Wang Hai and Zhou Jiarui. It runs 2 hours 15 minutes .
