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The stories in this movie have really happened.

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The coming-of-age memories of my generation, who was born in mainland China in the early 1990s, are distinct from both the previous generations and those born after the millennium. Most of our parents grew up in the atmosphere of China’s reform and opening up. They were in the midst of great changes in society, making sense of unprecedented lifestyles that spoke the temptation of new values. At the same time, most of their parents were born in the late Qing Dynasty or right around the communist revolution.

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The huge gap between the swift material development and the slow adjustment of the psyche has deeply troubled and confused our parents and their families, resulting in our generation’s growing up in a conflict of principles and morals. And this kind of rupture is reflected in changes in the environment, such as seeking quick success and instant benefits in utilizing natural resources, such as only pursuing the new and demolishing those stood by time. My childhood memory of a path covered by japonica flowers has become asphalt, and century-old trees are chopped down to make parking spaces. The things around us, like life itself, are slowly dying out, but also growing differently. All these shifts and changes return to the most primordial topic: death and rebirth.

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    Exploring and lamenting the incompleteness and inaccessibility of memory seems something we are obsessed with but could never figure out. We are more or less aware that these souvenirs make up who we are today. Memory is the most critical historical trace that the brain retains under the operation of its screening system. Only it seems that sometimes, we unconsciously edit out key memories that we cannot understand at the moment, so the process of recalling and completing it later becomes an afflicting jigsaw puzzle.

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    The creation process of this project is in itself a kind of recollection and completion. I conducted an in-depth self-exploration and tried to travel back to the “summer” of childhood in my memory. Of course, this "summer" is not one, but a patchwork of remembrances from a subjectively filtered perspective. It is a self-analysis of the source that has supplied much of my character and codes of behavior.

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    I think this film idea manifests itself at the best time possible. As my first feature film, the material ripens on the tree of my life and falls onto my head, who has been contemplating this experience for a while now and has only just glimpsed a sparkle of revelation. The aesthetic style also grew from my previous works, as it continues to bear my curiosity in the symbolism of religion, politics of China, mysticism, and magical realism. I always strive to find the precise lens to capture the characters and the shaping of their environment. I have always had a strong interest in the spiritual symbolism of Christianity, but I have hardly figured out how to incorporate these thoughts into an East Asian story until I saw Gauguin's paintings in the museum, which inspired me. Based on the experience I have accumulated in previous creations, I have taken a bolder direction in my exploration of audio-visual language. In line with the principle of not merely imitating and repeating the style of previous generations of filmmakers, I seek an honest breakthrough, a sincere perspective—a narrative in line with the experience unique to my generation of auteur filmmakers. I am willing to embrace new possibilities that technology has to offer, but the purpose should be to add dimension to the artistic intention of the narrative.

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    The moths, maggots, and ants in the film all bear the meaning of alienation: from the emergence of maggots in chocolate candies (the very last place one would want them to be) to the vibrant mating rituals of moths; from the metamorphosis of moth larvae into adults to the collective death of moths; from the collective consciousness of ants to the fungus’ control of ants who are infected and seemingly freed from collective consciousness—is this an act of revenge for the colony after a self-conscious awakening? Or is it just that the poor ant is parasitized by another organism and controlled by it?

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    The characters in the film are also examples of alienation. The so-called pride of masculinity estranges the father from his humanity and distresses his son, and the patriarchal society makes the role of the father socially dead. The morbid social structure of the family has also alienated familial love and makes emotional extortion a way of connecting as well as trapping each other in the family bond. The natural environment is also suffering from alienation—from the harmonious coexistence of man and nature to the absolute need for nature to adapt to human material pursuits. So much has been easily sacrificed by people without reflection, but does the materialistic lifestyle really make people, especially people in China, happier?

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    There is no doubt that this movie cannot escape its connection with politics--from the conflict between groups and individuals to the chicks in the red box, to the impact of patriarchy on society. Because people are born political animals, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and there is politics in public places. For thousands of years, there has been no exception. At the same time, death and rebirth are the themes throughout this film—the community, the environment, the relationship between people and one’s childhood, everything dies, slowly or suddenly. However, at the same time, everything is also constantly being reborn in another manner, just as the seeds the little boy Xiaoqian plants in his childhood quietly grows into something utterly different from what he has expected in the story. So at the end, when the ant climbs up to meet its death and spread the spores of the fungus, the atmosphere of the scene should not be terrifying, but should somehow be sacred, because it is also a new kind of life. I think this idea is also the backdrop of the film.

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    The people in the story are like moths trapped in the lampshade of the living room. Attracted by the light, no one can be warmed, no one can leave. They can only ask questions over and over again like the protagonist Xiaoqian: When will tomorrow come? What if there is no tomorrow? What if tomorrow never comes?