WEAVING (Yang Wang, China). 97 minutes. Rating: NNN
Two Chinese families cope with major upheaval when the textile factory where they work is set for demolition and the government wants to relocate them. Soon tensions deepen among siblings and also between generations.
This is a slow burn of a story, laced with painful details: a worker with crutches can barely navigate the torn-up streets, a young girl mocks her dad’s snoring, sons infantilize their parents, and sisters scrap with their privileged brothers.
The shots of the abandoned factory speak volumes about China’s economy and its preoccupation with profit – at the expense of what appear to be its disposable human resources.