Hot Docs 2025 - Always Review

 Still, is the camera. Active, are the children we follow throughout this documentary. Primarily, we follow a young boy named Youbin Gong as he comes of age and begins to understand the reality of life around him. These acknowledgements of his circumstances often come alongside clips of him actively learning poetry (the film also features bumper cards of poetry between scenes, which usually appear amidst narrative beats). Director Deming Chen makes excellent use of the observational format, as well as black-and-white visuals. It’s also worth noting the minute-long take of a still pond at the very start of the film, full of life and breathing colour. It must’ve been slightly jarring for folks going in blind, but the mood it gives the film is undeniable.

The patient, steady shots of surrounding environments and citizens—- far-shots of villages with folks creating art and going about their days—- accompany discussions between Gong’s family, conversations which usually involve harsh decisions and cold realities. It’s an incredibly inviting tactic for an audience member to be on the receiving end of, as well as a good way to keep a busy story structure: not telling your audience what is happening, but instead, showing them circumstances on screen and allowing them to piece it together.

As contextually important as the family's conversations are, the film truly shines when Gong and his adventures throughout villages/forests take centre stage. It’s especially effective when these moments with Gong are connected to the excerpts of short-form poetry. The poetry—- which exists not only physically in excerpts but also visually within isolated scenes of ants crawling around, Gong playing in a hay bale, and the smoke dancing off of a kneeling man’s cigarette—- is prominent, and lives throughout the film. It surpasses being a motif and finds a position that renders it as the ultimate tool for understanding the universe around you.

In the third act, Chen reverts to colour and the beautiful dark blue from the film’s opening long-take. A slightly older Gong can be seen listening to music on a cellphone and running through fields, observing wood fires, and mentally crafting his poetry. Within the finale, there’s a moment of mourning, as we see a long shot of many people walking in and out of frame (in the background audio, a woman sings poetry).

The film closes with a psychedelic montage of surroundings moving swiftly by, while children narrate various poems within the background, with a black-and-white colour palette (but not before jumping back to colour for the final seconds of observing the surrounding forest). It leaves you feeling hopeful for the power of poetry and all the ways the next generation will continue to create and experiment with various forms of art. Personally, I’m left with all of that and a heavy anticipation for Deming Chen’s next film.

“The weeds bid farewell to the river.

The trees, to the wind.

When I leave,

there’s no one to say goodbye.”

Hot Docs 2025 concluded on May 4th. You can view their upcoming year-round programming at hotdocs.ca.