A Fly in a Restaurant

Notes on the film

Xi Chen’s A Fly in a Restaurant (2018) evokes the influential history of Chinese ink wash painting. The film’s colours echo traditional brushwork in carbon black ink, as well the cinnabar red used for seals and accents. However, where traditional ink wash painting emphasizes the spiritual expressiveness of each stroke, Chen’s film returns ink to its earthy origins in soot and grime.

Grey washes depict the leaking walls and stained floors of an interior restaurant setting. Dry strokes and forceful dabs evoke the mess of soiled clothing and greasy weapons. The classic layout of a horizontal inked scroll is here folded into a circular panorama, surveilling the dining occupants and shadowy passersby from above. The film’s roving eye scans the space across successive revolutions, seeking the elusive fly amid a busy grayscale composition.