Going forward Tsai Minglian has no habit of cheating on himself or his cinema. Even far from his homeland, the director is looking for what he was looking for in his native China – harmony for the development of his creative style. It has never been verbose, and in recent years it has almost merged with the surrounding world. Having bewitched the Venetian jury by “Stray Dogs”, Minlyan, together with his galaxy from a quiet and remote part of the starry Asian sky, again finds himself outside his homeland, in a country well known and productive for him.
“Journey to the West” is a rather peculiar story of two people, partially rooted in Chinese literature, namely, in the eponymous work of Wu Cheng’en, who lived in the VI century. Modifying the plot of this novel, Minliang sends a Buddhist monk and a monkey king not to medieval India, but to modern France. Now the monk is the unofficial leader of this pair, and the king of the monkeys - obediently follows him literally foot in foot, measuring the territory of the city of Marseille at a speed of about 30 meters per hour.
In Cai’s worldview, all the details of this world are accurate and fascinating. For him, even tranquility consists of a thousand small details that require attention. It gives a kind of basis, often mixed up in hard reality and in the rhythm of monotony leads him to the boundary dimension. It is no coincidence that the traditions of contemplation originated in the East, where people learned to look beyond the horizons of rationalism. An example of this is two different characters. For such unusual images, Tsai chose one of his favorites - Lee Kangn-Shen and the charismatic French actor Denis Laban. They both did a great job.
The boiling streets of Marseille seem to freeze in a single impulse, listening to the mysterious aspiration of their strange guests. But at some point, from the ultra-clearness of all this asceticism of the image and sound, consciousness is depressurized. Instead of stone structures and the international population of the metropolis, a rocky coast or a desert landscape appear by themselves, whose fixed glances accompany a person going to the unknown. The wisdom of Zen becomes more than a metaphor – it is already on the verge of great discoveries, and the truth is at hand.
In "Journey to the West" slips the same sublime drama Tsai Minglian, once framed by the rapidly changing Chinese society, and now has acquired universal features. The problem of two civilizations is still acute, but behind its stone surface, grass is increasingly visible. One for everyone: green and soft. So is Marcel, who is much closer than he seems.