Find You in the Crowd (2017)

I don’t know where to start when something as promising as this short film has fallen so short of delivery. The movie has a very strong premise and the story tackles a very promising play script… but somehow, things get out of hand. The editing is haphazard and one gets very easily lost between past and present – and I am the kind of person who likes And finds it easy to navigate between shifting scenes and look-backs!

Anyway, the acting is the best part of the movie: My compliments to all of the performers inside a movie as complex as this one. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same the music since I don’t understand Chinese and the lyrics escaped me completely; but, it didn’t quite sound very complementary of the different scenes.

Perhaps I will come back to see this movie again and try to make a little bit more sense of the different shifts and time and place… although, a movie shouldn’t be turned into a detectives’ game and one shouldn’t have to put it together like a puzzle.

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In his directorial and screenwriting debut, Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yun He ('Until the Autumn Wind Start', 'Love Ever After', 'Find You In The Dream'), explores college campus love, homophobia, internalized homophobia, the love triangle, the relationship of childhood friends, unrequited love and the repressed desire to live sexuality freely.
Zhang Yun He is one of the world-renowned Chinese film directors who have portrayed homosexuality in their films, series and short films. His work joins others, such as 'River Knows Fish Heart', 'East Palace, West Palace', 'Spring Fever', 'For Love, We Can', 'Looking for Rohmer', 'Wu Yan – Speechless', ' Shanghai Panic', 'Kinematic Theory', 'The Raccoon', 'The Ambiguous Focus', which also address gender issues and sexual diversity in that Asian country.
'Find You in the Crowd', whose original title is 'Seeing Deers When the Trees Are Deep' (樹深時見鹿), revolves around Shen Lu Sheng, a senior college student, who is unable to recognize who is in love with a boy, his friend, the junior student Chen Jing Nian, who did have the courage to express her love for him.
This infatuation is the cause of the harassment that Shen Lu Sheng suffers from his schoolmates, which adds to the hostility that for family reasons he had already been a victim of since childhood. All this has caused him to have low self-esteem.
The film tells us about feelings, the passage of time and the protagonist's regrets for not confessing his feelings. 'Find You in the Crowd' speaks of a very everyday intrinsic truth in the lives of many homosexuals in the world, who remain silent, live repressed and do not accept their true nature. Many will be able to see themselves reflected in the character and the story told.
When Shen Lu Sheng is faced with the feelings he awakens in Chen Jing Nian, he hesitates to acknowledge his love and does not dare to face his own feelings honestly.
Starring Chen Wei (Chen Hao) and Tian Jun Zhang, in the roles of Shen Lu Sheng and Chen Jin Gian, respectively, the film is based on an original script written by Yan Xingjun and Zhang Yun He himself.
Also known as 'Shu Shen Shi Jian Lu', the film begins when the two friends meet again after some time, and discover that their feelings for each other are still intact.
From here on, the precise and frequent flashbacks will take us to know the intimate relationship between Shen Lu Sheng and Chen Jin Gian from when they were children to the present.
Filmed in Shanghai in 2017, the creators make good use of the monologue to expose Chen Jin Gian's feelings. In this way, the character guides the viewer on an introspective journey, revealing the feelings he hides and the desire to be able to confess his love to his best friend and the person he is in love with. Along the way, the protagonist discovers himself and questions himself for not having been sincere.
Equally notable is the cinematography, the color palette and the music, which as a whole reflect the tone of the film and expose the moods of the characters.
The ending is neither happy nor sad, as it is an open ending, as the story continues in 'Find You in the Crowd 2'.

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