Venice Days review - UNDERGROUND FRAGRANCE by Pengfei
A tale of those who live in the city and those who live under it. UNDERGROUND FRAGRANCE, feature directorial debut by PENGFEI had its world premiere in the VENICE DAYS section of the 72nd VENICE FILM FESTIVAL.
There are those who try to elevate their statur and those who are willing to play with their health and gamble their money in order to remain "above ground". The representation is quite literal in UNDERGROUND FRAGRANCE by PENGFEI, which takes place in an overpopulated Beijing, and with an eye on the community of drifters, people who are willing to lower the standards of their living conditions as the wait for their big break in the big city.
UNDERGROUND FRAGRANCE shows this with great effect and success with its sophisticated storyline of intertwining lives. A young male earning a meager living salvaging furniture. A young woman working as a pole dancer, eager to move on to her next employment. One day, a work accident leaves him temporarily blinded, and this draws upon him the attentions of the female who starts caring for him. The two's platonic love affair blossoms in the decaying setting of an improvised makeshift home, adapted from a former bomb shelter - a city under a city, a modern catacomb.
But to offer another viewpoint, PENGFEI also tells the story of the man's employer, a man whose failing health and drying up bank account does not prevent him from stubbornly holding out for an improbable good deal for the demolishing of his house. Despite the storyline of the film being surprisingly classicist as its core, the director opts for an approach that favours realism over a more blatantly melodramatic one.