*An Elephant Sitting Still* is a film produced in mainland China. It is the only feature film directed by Hu Bo (Hu Qian). The screenplay was adapted by Hu Bo from the eponymous chapter in his novel collection *The Great Rift*. Starring Zhang Yu, Peng Yuchang, Wang Yuwen, and Li Congxi, it premiered globally at the 68th Berlin International Film Festival on February 16, 2018. In November of the same year, it won the Best Feature Film award at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards. It was officially released in Taiwan on January 11, 2019, becoming the highest-grossing purely mainland Chinese film in Taiwan that year. It has not yet been released in mainland China.
Director Hu Bo committed suicide on October 12, 2017, several months before the film's premiere. This film is his posthumous work.
Plot:
This film tells the story of four desperate people who take a long-distance bus to the zoo in Manzhouli, hoping to see an elephant that supposedly sits on the ground.
High school student Webb lives in a repressive family. After being kicked out of the house by his father, he attends a school on the verge of closing down. At school, his friend Li Kai is suspected of stealing the school bully Yu Shuai's phone. To stand up for his friend, Webb shoves Yu Shuai, causing Yu Shuai to accidentally fall down the stairs. Webb tries to borrow money to escape the city and head to Manzhouli.
Webb's neighbor, Wang Jin, is a destitute retired military officer in his later years. Because his daughter and son-in-law want to move to a school district, they want him to move to a nursing home. While walking his dog, his dog is killed by an unleashed dog on the street. When he goes to the dog owner to demand an explanation, he not only doesn't receive an apology but is also met with evasiveness and humiliation. Webb finds Wang Jin on the street and trades his billiards cue for the money to go to Manzhouli. Wang Jin visits the nursing home and sees many elderly people in their twilight years. Afterwards, Wang Jin bought train tickets to Manzhouli. After picking up his granddaughter from school, he told her he would take her to the place where he had served in the army.
Yu Shuai's older brother, Yu Cheng, was a street thug. He was neglected at home because his younger brother was favored. After his affair with his friend's wife was discovered, his friend committed suicide in despair. Upon learning that his younger brother, Yu Shuai, had been beaten, he sent people to search for Wei Bu's whereabouts. At the same time, because of his friend's suicide, he wanted to go to Manzhouli to avoid trouble.
Wei Bu's classmate, Huang Ling, lived with her mother, but the two had a strained relationship and often argued. She had an inappropriate relationship with the school's vice-director of student affairs. Previously, a video of Huang Ling and the vice-director singing at a karaoke bar had been filmed by Yu Shuai and circulated among classmates. The vice-director's wife also came to their door. After Huang Ling injured the vice-director and his wife, she wanted to escape and decided to go to Manzhouli with Wei Bu.
Wei Bu was cheated out of his train ticket by a scalper. When he tried to get his money back, he faced a beating. Because the scalper knew Yu Cheng, Yu Cheng, having been alerted, finally found Wei Bu, but by then Yu Shuai had already died from his injuries in the hospital. Yu Cheng no longer cared about avenging his brother. Hearing that Wei Bu was going to Manzhouli to see elephants, and remembering his friend's similar story about suicide, he decided to let Wei Bu go. However, Li Kai, armed with a gun, arrived to save Wei Bu but accidentally injured Yu Cheng. Wei Bu seized the opportunity to escape, and Li Kai ultimately chose to commit suicide in front of Yu Cheng.
Finally, Wei Bu, Huang Ling, Wang Jin, and his granddaughter boarded a bus to Manzhouli. In the early morning before sunrise, the bus stopped, and the tourists disembarked, playing shuttlecock in front of the headlights. Soon after, the roar of elephants echoed in the darkness.
