The Crack (缝) (2000)
Directed by Li Wake
101 minutes
Long circulated only through underground screenings before its restoration by the Chinese Independent Film Archive, Li Wake's _The Crack_ stands as one of the most significant rediscoveries of Chinese independent cinema. Drawing on his own experiences as a performance artist and contemporary artist, this semi-autobiographical drama moves between 1966 and 1989, tracing the psychological afterlives of two defining eras of modern Chinese history. Rejecting conventional realism in favor of a oneiric, expressionist visual language, Li constructs a world where ritual, performance, erotic obsession, and historical memory collapse into one another. Arriving near the culmination of the first generation of Chinese independent filmmaking, _The Crack_ remains one of its boldest and most singular achievements. — _Sam C. Mac_