Electric Shadows was a love letter to Chinese cinema as the main characters built their lives around movies. The film jumped around in time showing how two people’s lives intertwined and were destined to meet just like in the movies.

Mao Da Bing is a water delivery boy and in a rush on his bike to make a movie’s showing. He accidentally knocks over some bricks and a young woman clocks him upside the head with a brick and then destroys his bike. At the police station she hands him her keys and tells him to feed her fish by writing on a piece of paper. When he enters her apartment, he sees that it is an ode to film and especially Street Angel with actress Xiao Xuan. He finds her diary and begins to read about her life and how she ended up where she is. As he reads her story, Da Bing also discovers they share a childhood connection.

The flashbacks to Ling Ling and Da Bing’s childhood were sweet and an innocent exploration of friendship and films. Before and after this segment was not as entertaining and contained one too many melodramatic and coincidental moments for me. As a cinephile I can understand the children’s love of film and the role it played before television took over. What I didn’t understand were some of the mom’s inconsistent decisions later in the story. Another mystery for me is what kind of job did Ling Ling have to be able to outfit her apartment like a mini-cinema? Da Bing could barely afford to go to the movies as an adult. They suffered similar situations and Ling Ling’s was compounded by hearing loss.

As much as I wanted to love this film about loving films, outside of the children’s story, the film suffered from too many coincidences and underdeveloped character elements. However, if you can overlook some of those flaws there is still much to be enjoyed in this film about childhood friendship, family, and reconciliation aided by the numerous clips of old Chinese films.

19 August 2024