Ciao Ciao (2024)

Ciao Ciao

Ciao Ciao is a young woman who returns to her rural home in southern China from Guangzhou. She has had a taste of city life and resents her parents and old neighbors for dragging her back down. With nothing to occupy her time and a desire to be treated better than she is now being, she chooses between two men both of whom are romantically interested in her, one of whom may prove dangerous.

Ciao Ciao is indicative of the many Chinese social realist films that center around the theme of migration from countryside to city. Families in rural areas are poor compared to those in urban areas where salaries are higher and standards of living are much better. Many people leave their homes for work in the cities so they can send money back home and support their families which often leads to rifts if not breaks between relatives as illustrated by this movie among others made by Chinese filmmakers over time.

What makes Ciao Ciao different from other works on this subject is that it tells the story not of someone going or left behind but rather that person who fails and comes back again. When we meet Liang Xueqin’s character, she has returned home without explanation except that we know how much she would rather have stayed in Guangzhou what did she do there? What sent her back? It’s hard to say.

And honestly, Ciao Ciao isn’t easy to like either: she acts superior towards people around her; dresses differently than them (referred as extravagant); washes hair daily despite being told off etc. Liang plays brilliantly though through rudeness self-involvement even relative cruelty at times making sure we see ourselves in spite of everything else.

In terms of potential love interests, there’s Zhou Quan playing a charming hairdresser who also happens be from Guangzhou; then there’s Zhang Yu taking up role ill-tempered neighbor gambles his money away or spends it on prostitutes. Sexual activity depicted much more openly than usual in Chinese cinema but it serves to underline Li’s aggressive side coupled with impulsiveness after all she was one left behind when he didn’t leave city. Yet, as both rural and urban China prove incompatible with each other, things start getting nasty against backdrop breathtaking views.

Yunnan is where the film is shot by Director Song Chuan who captures beautiful orange-red soil contrasting bright green vegetation throughout countryside scenes while showing key moments where Ciao talks friends Guangzhou via phone seemingly unaware how lovely her house would look if only she stopped see-ing it like this. There’s definite sense place here which works well for Song

Ciao Ciao uses an unusual electronic soundtrack for this kind of film most Chinese films of this style have no score at all. It is composed by Jean Christophe Onno, a French musician. This characterizes her well: both the music and Ciao Ciao seem out of place. But in this case it works brilliantly, and is one of the things that sets this movie apart from its peers.

As the movie progresses, it gets darker and darker, and it becomes less likely that Ciao Ciao will go back to the city. The movie ends very suddenly; it seems like we haven’t really earned this ending through what has come before. But still, it’s a great movie within such a crowded genre. There’s plenty here for fans of Chinese independent film to enjoy.

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