In Up The Mountain, a blurring of documentary and fiction, director Zhang Yang portrays the spiritual and rejuvenating qualities of a simple pastoral lifestyle surrounded by fulfilling relationships with people and art. Viewers are invited into the lives of the people in Shen Jianhua’s art studio, which is a space that fosters individuals’ lives and attempts to revive the folk arts of china’s rich cultural heritage that continues to be threatened by the domination of cities within the capitalistic and globalised world. The film documents intersecting vignettes of the quotidian experiences of Shen Jianhua’s family, the painters in his studio, and their relatives, in the village of Shuanlang, Yunnan. Though slow-paced and long, the documentary is far from boring as it is permeated with exquisite framing, painterly cinematography, and has as a seamless narrative flow.
Using the medium of a documentary, the film plays with elements of fiction with some scenes being reshot or staged, the experience of the film transpires a great sense of authenticity. Yang’s documentation of over an extended period of their lives, skilfully celebrates the inherent beauty in the small moments, whilst also appreciating the complexities of the fluctuating experiences. In focusing on these small moments and experiences— where a young girl draws a recount of her day, where a couple discusses the prospects of their future in a new city, where elderly ladies huddle around a table to make dumplings for dinner— the filmmakers develop a larger painting of the varying multitude of experiences. Their lives, connected by the mountaintop studio, parallel and transect, developing like a painting that ultimately creates a vision of what it means to experience life. This parallels the paintings by the villagers who capture the same moments and rituals with paints and pigments. With a square ratio framing its vivid compositions, Daming Guo’s cinematography and the film’s visual qualities are also presented like a painting.
“Also, just so you know, painting is more than just picking up a brush. You must experience all kinds of life events to gain understanding to improve our painting and know what to paint…”, Shen Jianhua says. The importance of art in this documentary film is exemplified by the development of the women who find confidence in their expression and artistic abilities through the guidance provided by Shen’s studio.
Within all this, the film also manages to explore the collision of modernity and tradition in contemporary China. Rural towns are an exemplar of this, as tensions exist between the educated and uneducated, the young and old—where perspectives of shifting generations clash.
Through these interspersing narratives, we view the diurnal activities of ordinary people and are given a wholesome exploration of what it is to be human. Watching this amplified the yearning to live a content and simple lifestyle, to connect to my homeland, to create art. Up the Mountain reminds you of your values and aspirations—and to chase them. Their experiences weren’t completely devoid of heartbreak or suffering—for that is an essential aspect of human experiences. This documentary film requires a proper viewing, for you must immerse yourself in the colourful lives of seemingly ordinary people living in rural China. It is both a spiritual and poignant experience that will allow one to see beyond the obstructing view of China’s hegemonic megacities—preserving its unseen landscapes, endearing dynamics, and under appreciated heritage.
People come and go, gossip travels, people fall in love, people fall out of love, seasons change and bear different fruits, years pass. A reminder for us to slow down, and that life is ultimately a beautiful thing. A reminder that art, language and filmmaking, are vehicles that allow us to translate lived experiences and intangible emotions into tangible forms that can be universally understood and shared.
“…When I joined this studio, I was old, like stagnant water. But now the water flows. It’s best to keep painting.”, says one of the elderly women.