‘This is a film which attempts to mix reality, fantasy, imagination and reminiscences. All together it is a film that breaks all the rules,’ according to Zhang himself.It is a freezing winter in Beijing. A young couple attempts suicide for completely incomprehensible reasons. Both are saved. The woman is torn by memories from her past. She keeps muttering as if she wants to interrogate herself about the motive for the suicide. Each of them tries to find an explanation for the violent action which they undertook to get out of their rut. In the end they regard each other as strangers. Some friends come to visit them. One of them disappears. People starts searching for her and in the course of this quest, the viewer is a witness to the different kinds of life in the city; a real rock ‘n roll star (played by Cui Jian, the first and best-known rock ‘n roll star in China) tries to organise a concert and is thwarted by the authorities. The film also follows a group of young performance artists who perform on the streets of Beijing.Zhang Yuan tries to investigate the meaning of contemporary Chinese art using these portraits of a group of acquaintances. Zhang: ‘We are all confused by the conflicts between politics and reality, love and sex, violence, money and traditional values.
