Floating Melon (2015)

Original title

浮果

Directed by

Xu Xiaoxi, Roberto F. Canuto

Genre

drama film, LGBTQ-related film

Country

People's Republic of China, Spain

Runtime

19 min

Rating

5.8 of 10 from 5 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A low budget independent short film set in Chengdu, it follows young people in a marginalized community navigating hidden lives. The story draws from true events and has a film noir atmosphere.

stylizedtensemelancholicintimatesubduedgrittyunderstatedatmospheric

What happens

Floating Melon (Original Chinese: 浮果; pinyin: Fu Guo; lit. 'floating fruit'; Spanish title Sandía amarga) is a 2015 Spanish and Chinese co-production drama film written and directed by Roberto F. Canuto and Xu Xiaoxi. It is a low budget independent short movie produced by Almost Red Productions (China) in association with Arkadín Ediciones (Spain). It was shot in Chengdu, using the local dialect of the region, the Sichuanese Mandarin. The film has a strong film noir influences and represents the second part of the work Invisible Chengdu, a trilogy that focuses on characters that usually are kept underground and discriminated in the Chinese society and often not well represented in the silver screen. The first part is the film Ni Jing: Thou Shalt Not Steal (2013) and the last part Sunken Plum (to be released in 2017). Floating Melon is performed by non professional actors and it includes themes very delicate, often censured in China, specially the representation of the homosexuality in young people, a community that need to protect themselves due to the lack of protective laws in the country. The story is partially based in true events, but the atmosphere is close to the Film Noir genre, to reflect the only situation where queer people can express themselves, community that needs to live in the shadows of the night in the Chinese society. It tells the story of Xiao Cheng, a young Chinese guy that ask for help to a friend to resolve a big trouble, the guy with whom he spend the afternoon is dead on his bed from the effect of a drug, not something the Chinese authorities look kindly on. The film premiered in Spain at the 53rd FICXIXON, Gijón International Film Festival in November 2015 and in China at the Art Gallery Shujingtang Alley Art Space in Chengdu (Sichuan) in June 2016. It received an Audience Award at the 15th Avilés Acción Film Festival (Spain) and the Audience Choice Award and Best Cinematography Award (Guo Yong) at the III Asturian Film Festival of Proaza 2016 (Spain). In the first 12 months after the release it has been presented in over 40 international film festivals in Europe, America, Asia and Africa. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• The Dead End (2015)
• Thanatos, Drunk (2015)
• Ever Since We Love (2015)
• Looking for Rohmer (2015)
• Distance (2015)
• Mountain Cry (2015)
• Inside the Chinese Closet (2015)
• Mr. Six (2015)