Free and Easy

Free and Easy is a 2017 Mandarin language film starring Xu Gang and Zhang Zhiyong. Directed by award-winning director Geng Jun, known for his absurdist cinematic depictions of life in Northeastern China, this film is a deeply satirical commentary on the human condition against the backdrop of modern-day Chinese socio-economic landscapes. A winner of the Special Jury Prize for Cinematic Vision at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, Free and Easy is an independent film that does not easily fit into traditional genre classifications. The film effectively juggles elements of dark comedy, social satire, crime, and drama with a deep undercurrent of philosophic musings on societal morality and human nature.

The film chronicles a collection of quirky vignettes featuring a bizarre cast of characters in a desolate northern Chinese town that appears to have been forgotten by both its government and time. At the core, it's an exploration of values in a microcosm of society, highlighting the dichotomy of good and bad, right and wrong, and morality in a world seemingly devoid of any universal structure or order. Bound together in this town are eccentrics, most of them fallen predicaments, in the absence of proper policing or social order.

Unabashed cynicism pervades the isolated snow-swept town where Free and Easy is set. Xu Gang plays a traveling soap salesman who uses his wares as a ruse to knock innocent bystanders unconscious with a substance that he infuses his soap with. Simultaneously, Zhang Zhiyong portrays a forest ranger who moonlights as a fervent Christian on a mission to convert the uninterested and ever-disinterested townsfolk – a tough task in an environment where cynicism reigns over faith. They both intertwine in a compelling narrative that is steeped in a uniquely stinging yet inherently humorous perspective on life.

The film also boasts an ensemble of well-crafted supporting characters. Each manifests some fundamental human trait exaggerated to little short of deformity, from the lazy cop obsessed with get-rich-quick schemes, a monk dedicated to a possibly extinct tree species, to a lumberjack who’s lost the taste for woodcutting. Surprisingly deprived of any credible work, they resort to committing petty crimes, conspiring schemes, and indulging in morally questionable activities for survival.

Director Geng Jun’s deliberate use of cold palettes, long shot compositions, and minimal camera motion highlight the utter desolation and inertia that laden the characters' lives, paralleling the stagnated morality in the society these characters inhabit. The striking cinematography showcases a snow-blanketed, empty town that starkly embodies the barrenness of its inhabitants. It is as if the stagnation and moral depravity in the inhabitants' lives have seeped into the very land they live on.

The movie employs a leisurely pace, shying away from an action-packed or conventionally exciting narrative. Instead, it ventures into the realm of the offbeat, bringing forth the elements of absurd humor, existential philosophy, and deeply ingrained irony. Despite its heavy themes, the film is sprinkled with moments of levity and unexpected humor, serving as a sedative balm to soothe the poignant dissection of societal dysfunctions.

Arthur Miller once noted that "an era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted." Free and Easy, in its unique tone of imperceptible cynicism and bizarre humor, focuses on examining these eroding illusions of morality, belief, and social construct.

Overall, Free and Easy becomes a haunting portrait of the human condition and the inherent absurdity of life. Its open-ended narrative, stark cinematography, and remarkably realistic portrayals of everyday life invest narratives stripped of standard conventions with immense emotional depth and cinematic value. Xu Gang, Zhang Zhiyong, and the rest of the ensemble cast deliver commendable performances, breathing life into characters that are at once profoundly relatable and beautifully bizarre. It is a movie that rewards patient viewing with its rich symbolism and thought-provoking subtext, and it strikes a delicate balance between bleak cynicism and existential humor. The film is a melancholic symphony and a stark satire on life that leaves its audience with heartfelt laughter and lingering contemplation.