The Love Songs of Tiedan

In his second feature directorcowriter Hao pays rousing tribute to Errentai a form of saucy musical performance closely associated with Haos home region in the northwest near the Mongolian border This colourfully accessible slice of backwater ethnography follows hapless hero Tiedan Feng Si from joyous childhood through to a maturity notable for an eventfully unorthodox lovelife Taking their cue from the Errentai songs themselves which express passionate feelings in bursts of hyperstylised intensity Hao and his Korean editor Baek Seung Hoon sock over short scenes packed with freewheeling incident and comedy