LE YONYI; DEEP IN THE MOUNTAIN (2025) New York Asian Film Festival 2025

TRAILER

Bumbling local officials let an evil man roam free in the Chinese provinces

Le Yongyi was an editor for Zhang Yimou, so this story, his debut feature as a director is put together with a certain ingenuity. It's a tangled tale of foolery, but it revolves around a thoroughly evil man, associated with evil doing at rural Maniao River Village's Ruyi Restaurant. "Ge Wenyong," a closing info card of this film tells us, "was convincted of multiple robbery, rape, intentional homicide, and desecration of corpses." He was sentenced to death,' we're further told, "with lifetime deprivation of politcal rights and confiscation of all personal properties." (Before he dies, I guess.) "After his death penalty reviewed in September 1996 he was executed by shooting." After watching this film, which shows some samples of his evildoing, you wish you'd gotten to see this sucker bite the dust.

"Yan Xue," the second card tells us at the close of trhe film, "who was coerced into participating in Ge Wenyong's crimes, actively cooperated with [the] investigation and interrogaton." She is, in thf film, a young woman who barely speaks. She has been witness to horrors and is traumatized into near-muteness. But she was punished, we're now told, in accordance with the laws of the People's Republic of China. She gets a smaling, quiet, hopeful scene at the end when Yao tells her he has gone to her village, found that her family is fine, and that when she gets out "there is still hope," and she quietly smiles.

Now there are various village officials the film weaves in and out in this day and a night of confusion ushered in by a frame tale of big rigs on the mouintain highway. So the next card tells us that "Village chief Zhang Changchun, seurity director Chen Yonggin, old accoutant Chen Hamin, and little accontant Chen Guanghkan" were all "punished by judicial authorities for the crimes [of] of obstructing official duties, picking quarrels, and provoking troubles." (I like that list.) In the film these folks are seen as bumbling idiots whose stupid behavior and for a while cooperatong in Ge's imprisonment of Yao, the highway cop, is partly due to their currying favor in the local petty polital heirarchy. This is clearly being made fun of -- and the way they all fall into line when the district official comes. They for one thing for a while helped Ge in his "arresting" of Yao, the highway cop, somewhat a bumbler too, but innocently searching for the lost truck Ge has confiscated.

Things had started with Yao relieving a fog light violation of Yang Zhaowe . i's truck We later learn in the most touching speech of the film that Yang Zhaowei has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and has been spending time with his high-school age daughter Yang Ge by taking her with him in the truck. We learn that he has had massive debuts, has sold off eerything, "even" his motorcycle, to pay them, and rented this truck, making money through hauling, at this point, TVs. His only dream is to pay off his debts before he dies and not leave them for his wife and daughter.

Yao is seen at the end, not Ge's prisoner - and they were engaged in a to-the-death hand-to-hand battle earlier - but back to his lowly but decent job of highway inspection of trucks. Besides reassuring Ge's young woman victim the film jerks some tears with his returning of some confisdcated property to Yang Zhaowei's young daughter. It's the pair of white high heeled shoes he had bought for his wife, but gave to her after she tried them on and broke one of the heels. It's a pretty sweet sceen.

Then comes the last info card to tell us "Yao Sichen was awarded a Class II Personal Merit and sent back to the criminal police team." He had been "demoted," he has told us, to the highway detail as a result of goofy excessive zeal: taking off running in his underwear when he saw what he thought was a missing woman, and thereby embarassing the force. And one more card: Yang Ge, Yang Zhaowei the dying accountant's daughter, gained admission to university thre say year of Yao Sichen's restoration to crime prevention.

The film's self-description of being "absurd comedy wearing crime clothing" does tell us what it's trying to do,but Ge Wenyong is just too desicable a man for comedy, and finding out at the end that he was a real person only underlines that fact. Howeever, the way Le Yonli wind up his feature directorial debut, the complex interweafving of characters and plot details, and the way he directs the actors all show mastery. We will watch for what he does in the future.

Deep in the Mountains 如意饭店 (Ru Yi Fan Dian, "Ruyi Hotel"), 108 mins., in Mandarin, premiered Apr. 2025 at Beijing, showing also at Udine. Screened for this review as part of the Jul. 11-17, 2025 New York Asian Film Festival. Showtime:

Saturday July 26, 6:15pm
SVA Theatre
2025 NYAFF Uncaged Award Nominee.

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©Chris Knipp. Blog: http://chrisknipp.blogspot.com/.