An Elephant Sitting Still

An Elephant Sitting Still is a 2018 Chinese drama film written, directed, and edited by Hu Bo. The first and only feature film by the novelist-turned-director Hu, who died by suicide soon after finishing his film on 12 October 2017 at the age of 29, it is based on a story with the same title from his 2017 novel Huge Crack, about four people who travel to a northern Chinese city to see the eponymous elephant. It made its world premiere in the Forum section of the 68th Berlin International Film Festival. The film has won acclaim from established directors such as Béla Tarr, Wang Bing, Ang Lee, and Gus Van Sant. The film opened the 12th FIRST International Film Festival in Xining in late July 2018. It was released in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2018, and in the United States on March 8, 2019. Critics' reviews were highly positive. Plot In Shijiazhuang, gang member Yu Cheng monologues with a woman in his bed about a sitting elephant in a circus in Manzhouli who could be thrashed and beaten but remains still. A man later argues with her; he is Cheng's close friend and she his wife. The friend later kills himself off-screen. Later, Cheng meets his girlfriend, who rejected his sexual advances, and blames for the suicide. He tells her he plans to see the elephant in Manzhouli. Simultaneously, Wei Bu wakes up to his father chastising him about his filthy room. As he leaves for school, he watches old man Wang Jin leave with his pet dog. He leaves for school to meet his friend Li Kai and discuss how they will face the school bully Yu Shuai as Li was accused of stealing his cell phone. Eventually they meet Shuai, who tells them to meet his gang at the stairway after school. Wei sees the school's vice-dean, who tells him the school will eventually close down and he will move to another, better school while Wei and the students will go to a worse school and have no future. Wei briefly meets his neighbor and friend Huang Ling. Later that day, he and Li face up to Shuai, who mocks Wei's father for getting fired because of accepting bribes. Wei pushes Shuai and he falls down a flight of stairs. When Wei returns home to his father, he realizes he is not safe at home.