Country
Spain, Frankrijk
Year
2026
Language
Spaans, Mandarin spoken, English subtitles
Director
Xisi Sofia Ye Chen
Duration
96 min
In Spanish karaoke bars, men share lively stories about jobs that went awry, but they also reveal their vulnerability in conversations about depression and insomnia, the constant threat and suffocating grip of loan sharks, and the struggle to leave the past behind.
A Wen, 38, is a Chinese restaurant owner in Barcelona, a devoted father and partner, and a former gangster. His sister, Xisi Sofia Ye Chen, who makes her directorial debut with this film, follows him through his daily life, observing conversations with his circle of friends and family. During these exchanges, the camera remains motionless at a respectful distance; in other scenes, set in karaoke bars filled with dice and alcohol, the lens moves along with the hallucinatory, dreamlike experience.
In a voice-over, Ye Chen recounts how A Wen became involved with criminal gangs at a young age, influenced by the Hong Kong gangster films that the siblings used to watch together on VHS tapes. The image of "brothers" in cool sunglasses, gambling and smoking with an air of imperturbable detachment, still shapes the dynamics within his group of friends today.
With the help of Buddhist monks in China, A Wen hopes to discover a new moral compass.
9:00 PM - 10:36 PM
€ 11.50
Camera 4
6:45 PM - 8:21 PM
€ 11.50
Camera 1
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